


Bitemarks and Bloodstains

by liziscribbles



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: M/M, Vampire/Werewolf AU, human!Prompto, i really hope this isn't garbage, vampire!Ignis, vampire!Noctis, werewolf!Gladio
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-08
Updated: 2017-03-29
Packaged: 2018-09-15 19:21:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 29
Words: 103,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9252272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liziscribbles/pseuds/liziscribbles
Summary: Vampire/werewolf AU."You can't very well have royal blood if you have no blood left, now can you, Prince Noctis?"





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> HOO BOY.
> 
> So, welcome to my little side project/attempt at balancing two fics at once.
> 
> This idea came to me at complete random, and then [IntoThePensive](http://archiveofourown.org/users/IntoThePensive) and [SakuraYuki09](http://archiveofourown.org/users/SakuraYuki09) completely and totally enabled me and helped me plot out SO MANY DETAILS. So if you wanna thank anyone, thank them. XP
> 
> I reeeeeeally hope that this isn't garbage. XD

Nighttime in Insomnia came with a warning. It was common knowledge that walking around after dark was dangerous. Things lurked in the shadows, around the corners, where they couldn't be seen, and it was well-known fact that being out at night was almost guaranteed suicide. Most people built homes right above or beside their businesses, so that they didn't have to go far to get back home after nightfall. Schools closed early in the winter. Places started locking down as _soon_ as the first hint of nightfall glinted in the sky. The town became a ghost town at night. 

Sometimes, though... sometimes it was just impossible to avoid, and Noctis Lucis Caelum had made the mistake of putting himself into one of those situations.

It had already been close to nightfall when he'd left the Amicitias', but he had been tempted not to leave at all. Gladiolus Amicitia, a dear old friend of his, had been missing for weeks now and Noctis—as well as Gladiolus' family and his boyfriend Ignis Scientia—was beginning to fear the worst. The last time anyone had seen him, he'd been out in the wilds outside of Insomnia helping some of the creature hunters do their work.

Dave, the head of the hunters guild had returned two days later, telling the Amicitia family of a den of slaughtered werewolves, but with Gladiolus' dog tags in tow. It would have been enough for most families to stop the search, but between Gladiolus' family and Noctis, there was no way that they were going to give up that easily. The difficulty of the search notwithstanding, the Caelums were the royal family, the Amicitias were of noble blood, and Ignis was a man of intellect and a loyal friend to each family, so it wasn't as though it was out of their reach. They had the money and the means, and it would be done. Noctis and Ignis had insisted on hiring the whole of the hunters guild and starting a tireless search, but it had taken equal parts money, finesse, and threats to make it happen.

With everything taken care of, though, the hunt was set to start the next morning.

The Amicitia house was crowded at the moment, and Noctis had to go home to begin preparing for the trip. The debate between Noctis and his father as to whether or not he would go had been long-raging, but Noctis refused to sit idly by and let other people search for his friend without him. When he'd left Amicitia Manor, he'd been sure that he had a chance to make it home before the sun went down. But he hadn't accounted for a distraction.

As he rounded the corner to get to Septimo Avenue, three blocks from his apartment, he already noticed that the streets were starting to empty out. The sky, though still bright enough that he could see without really trying, was darkening to the point that he was starting to worry a bit. Raising his eyes above the Insomnian light posts and skyscrapers, he took in the sky. Oranges faded to purples faded to dark blues, and the very first star appeared in his vision.

 _I should hurry,_ he thought into the air.

He looked back down and picked up his step, rounding a corner to see a young silver haired boy skipping merrily and innocently down the street, not minding the darkening sky. Arching an eyebrow, Noctis took another couple of hurried steps forward. "Hey!" he called out to the boy. "Hey, you should get home! It's getting dark out!"

But the boy turned for a moment, put a hand to his mouth, and giggled impishly. He didn't speak, just shook his head no before turning around and continuing to skip away. He rounded another corner, into a back alley that led back toward Amicitia Manor. His steps were dainty and innocent, and every once in awhile he stopped to spin in a circle and look up at the sky.

Noctis blinked a couple of times. There was something wrong about all of this, but he couldn't let this little boy wander around at night when there could be someone out there worried about him. He scratched a hand through his hair and looked up at the sky. He didn't have much time... but he needed to make sure this boy got to wherever he was going safely. Nodding to himself in affirmation, he turned down the alleyway and called after the boy again.

"Little boy?" Noctis called after him again. "Hey, wait! At least let me walk you to wherever you're going!"

But he didn't listen. His skipping steps turned into running steps then, and every now and again he would glance over his shoulder to smile and giggle at Noctis. He turned another corner, into another long alleyway, and Noctis was forced to follow. But with each step he took, visibility got worse and worse. The sun was so low on the horizon now that it was only a matter of moments before it was gone completely. In the dark alley, it was even harder to see. The only thing that kept the boy in his sights was his pale, bright skin when he turned around to giggle at Noctis.

Noctis couldn't keep up with him, though. "Hey! Wait, please!" he called out once again.

Another giggle, and he disappeared down a third corner. Noctis knew the Insomnian back roads and alleys like the back of his hand, so he knew that this particular turn led to a dead end. At the very least, he'd be able to find out why the little boy kept running away. Noctis ran as hard as he could, until his lungs burned and his muscles ached, but the boy still maintained the same distance ahead with no sign of stopping.

He turned into the dead-end alley and looked around. It was completely dark now; the only light in the area was a pale blue streetlight shining in over the high wall that blocked the road from the alley. He looked from left to right as he walked, searching for any sign of the little boy, but there was none. A couple of garbage cans were knocked over, and some debris was strewn across the ground... it looked just like any other Insomnian alleyway that Noctis had seen.

When he reached the wall, he looked up and down the bricks and reached out to touch them. Why, he wasn't sure. It wasn't like he expected to be able to move the wall. But the boy had disappeared down this alley. He was _sure_ that the boy had come this way, but he wasn't here now. Noctis swallowed nervously and turned back around, ready to go back the alley just to make sure that he hadn't missed him somehow.

He made it one step when what appeared to be a man jumped down from a nearby two-story building. Noctis gasped sharply as the man descended, but when he landed effortlessly with a thud that echoed out into the empty Insomnia streets, that gasp died on his lips and he completely froze in position. The body—a burgundy-haired man in a fedora and scarf—straightened up and looked at Noctis with a bloodthirsty smile. His eyes flashed red.

"Hasn't anyone ever warned you not to come out after dark?" The man's voice was oily; slick and confident, and he sized Noctis up like Noctis was nothing but helpless prey.

Noctis was frozen in position, but aware enough to know that the situation was bad. Red eyes. Bloodthirsty smile. He was a vampire. The _very_ reason that Noctis had been trying to get home before dark. This was more than bad. This was potentially lethal. Vampires had been exiled from Insomnia for a long time, but no matter how many times Insomnian security tried to keep them out, small pockets of them always managed to find their way back in. There were dens in the sewers, or in basements of hidden buildings, and because of the continued inability to clear them out, Insomnia had been forced to institute a curfew.

Perhaps it was a rash reaction when he didn't know this man from a hole in the ground, but Noctis conjured his sword and held it out in front of him. "The boy," he called out as he stepped forward. "Where'd he go?"

A throat clear from behind Noctis caught his attention—jumped him, more like—and he turned to see the boy standing on top of the high wall, balanced precariously like a cat in a seated position. "You mean me?" he called from his position. Red eyes glistened from above... and suddenly Noctis realized how big of a mistake this whole situation this was.

"You're both vampires..." he whispered.

The man's bloodthirsty smile grew. "And you're in a world of trouble, dear boy."

Noctis' heart pounded in his chest. He shifted his sword in his hands, ready to defend from whichever of them struck first. The boy spoke up from behind him. "The harder his heart pounds... the hungrier I get. Ardyn, can we do it now? It's been so long since I've eaten and-"

But the man—Ardyn—shook his head and held his hand out to stop the boy. "No, Ravus. We'll hunt someone else for you when this is done," he insisted. "This one is mine." And just as soon as the words escaped his mouth, he surged forward and stopped right in front of Noctis.

On instinct alone, Noctis thrust his sword out, but before he'd even moved an inch, an ice cold hand grabbed hold of his wrist. The bloodthirsty smile on Ardyn's face changed to a feral snarl. When his lip curled, Noctis got a flash of fang. He fought fruitlessly against Ardyn's grip. It tightened, and Noctis cried out as he felt his bones being crushed beneath Ardyn's hand. His knees buckled, and he lost his concentration, so his sword disappeared from his hand. The snarl turned back to a grin, and Ardyn shoved Noctis to the ground, before pouncing on top of him.

"You can't very well have royal blood if you have no blood left, now can you, Prince Noctis?" Ardyn cooed into Noctis' ear.

Noctis couldn't even come up with a question as to how Ardyn knew who he was, not that he had ever really hidden his identity. Fear coursed through him and his wrist throbbed in agony and Noctis really, really wished that he hadn't chased that boy down the alleyway now. He pushed with his one good hand, trying to get the vampire off of him, but it was pointless. At first, Ardyn's teeth pinched his neck. But then, the pinch turned into a tearing of flesh as the man's fangs ripped through the muscle on the side of his neck. All Noctis could do was scream out into the night, over the chorus of laughter coming from the boy as he jumped down from the wall to watch.

Every second that passed, Noctis could feel his life force being drained from him. It started with his screams fading into whimpers, and then the whimpers fading into labored breaths. The fight drained out of him... and then before long, all he could do was breathe in and out helplessly, watching as Ardyn pulled himself away from Noctis' neck. Blood—Noctis' blood—dripped from Ardyn's lips and the feral expression changed back to a cocky smile.

"Now," he spoke to Noctis, who could do nothing but blink and breathe as he clung with every bit of strength he had inside of him to his last bit of life. "I could just _leave_ you there. Let you fade out and just perish. But I'm far too _charitable_ for that."

He pulled up the sleeve of his coat and used one of his blood-dripping fangs to tear his own skin open. "Let's see how the royal family responds to having one of _us_ in their midst, hmm?" And the last thing Noctis remembered seeing before consciousness faded away was the man's body, leaning back over him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote up a teeny little lore guide (with the help of [IntoThePensive](http://archiveofourown.org/users/IntoThePensive), of course), so that you guys could get the general idea of what I have planned here!
> 
> [Lore Guide](http://heyjealousyyy.tumblr.com/post/155637898885/promptisgladnis-vampire-au-lore)!

The next thing Noctis remembered was waking up in a familiar apartment. The shades were drawn, but a tiny bit of sun streamed down through and beamed a path straight to the floor at the foot of the bed. He started off by pulling a breath inward, before he realized that absolutely nothing happened when he did. His chest moved, but his lungs didn't fill... all that really changed was the passage of air through his nostrils.

A vague memory of what had happened flooded into his brain and he looked around the room in a panic. The last time he'd been around anyone, it was nighttime. But now, there was definitely a small sunbeam filtering into the room. How had he gotten inside? When Ardyn had bitten him—killed him?—he was outside. In an alley. Several blocks away from where he now recognized to be the guest room in Ignis' apartment. His eyes scanned the room quickly for any sign of how he got here, but when no clue came, he felt panic rising. How had he gotten here? And where was Ignis?

And how was he alive?

Noctis raised a hand and placed it on his chest. He felt around, pulling in another useless breath of air, then blinked hard. "N-no heartbeat. Breathing doesn't really... feel..." His voice sounded scratchy and haggard, like he'd been in a dessert for years and was in desperate need of water. He felt like he hadn't eaten in a week. After a look down at his hands, he noticed them trembling and pulled in another breath. He could smell every little thing.

Ignis' apartment had always had a vague smell of pastries, and sometimes lavender fabric refresher. Right now, he could smell a mixture of both. The guest bedroom only ever smelled like clean laundry. Now, even as Noctis stood away from the bed, he could smell the sheets like he was buried up to his forehead with them. Noctis, of course, was fully aware of what had happened. He remembered the vampires, Ardyn and Ravus. He remembered Ardyn's words— _you can't very well have royal blood if you have no blood left, now can you, Prince Noctis?_ —and he remembered being drained almost to death... then brought back.

Noctis glanced up at the mirror on the other side of the room, and his hands began to tremble. He was absolutely standing right in front of the mirror, but there was no reflection. He strangled a dry sob and stepped forward, toward the mirror. In doing so, though, he stepped in front of the sunbeam that stretched across the room. It seared his arm where it touched, and Noctis jumped backward with a whimper and a hiss of pain.

"I'm... it's really true..." he whispered, looking at his pale white hands and pulling in a quivering breath. He ran his tongue along his teeth, and jumped when he felt his left fang. "I'm a vampire."

He fell back to Ignis' guest bed, seated, and put his head in his hands, but he only stayed there for a second before he realized that... by the _Six_ was he starving. But what could he do? And where could he go? He was in Ignis' apartment... was Ignis here somewhere? If he left this room, would he come face to face _with_ Ignis? Would he try to kill him the same way Ardyn had done to him?

The corner of his eye glimpsed a folded piece of paper on the bedside table, and he reached for it. His name was written in Ignis' familiar handwriting on the page, and he swallowed thickly before unfolding it.

Noctis looked across the room, blinking a couple of times. Blood. Not food, blood. That was what he needed to eat to survive now. The black mini-fridge sat in the corner of the room, unobtrusive and innocent, like it wasn't filled with something horrific. Blood. That was what was in there. Noctis trembled once more, pushing himself to his feet and maneuvering around the sunbeam that was cascading down into the room. It felt like he was moving in slow motion, but he wasn't and he knew it. Reaching down with one hand, he pulled the door open and eyed each pouch in increasing amounts of horror.

He picked one up. It was cold and felt odd in his hand, but he looked it over a couple of times. _No choice... you have no choice..._ he told himself despondently, before raising the plastic pouch to his mouth and using his fangs to puncture it. The chilled liquid ran across his tongue and down his throat, and he couldn't help but let out a soft sigh. It tasted just like blood had always tasted before; metallic, organic, human. But unlike before, unlike when he was human, it tasted _amazing_. He likened the flavor to eating a rice bowl after a long day. He sucked the pouch dry and tore it open further, shame coursing through him as he lapped up every last bit of blood like a cat would with milk.

More. He needed more.

The mini-fridge really was full, and Noctis took advantage of that fact, drinking pouch after pouch after pouch. Each time, he noticed, each one tasted different. One had a stronger metallic taste than the last; it felt like a salad, and while it wasn't Noctis' preference, he still drank it willingly, licking the plastic until it was completely gone. The next tasted less metallic and more organic. It felt almost like a roast dinner. One, after the other, after the other, until each and every pouch in the fridge was empty and Noctis _almost_ felt sated. Sated, but not satisfied.

From a distance—further away than he'd ever heard before—he heard footsteps trudging down the hall. Ignis' guest room was behind three doors. He heard the first door open and close. The second door opened, and then a fragrance entered his nose and it was almost like someone took the logical part of his mind and locked it in the far back corner of his skull.

The smell was... tantalizing. It smelled like the blood he'd just been drinking, but this time it was _moving_. It was _warm_ and _fresh_. And all of a sudden, it was the only thing in the whole entire world that Noctis wanted.

He leapt over the bed, listening to the footsteps as they echoed closer down the hall. He heard the jingling of keys, too, but that was easy enough to ignore. Especially with the achingly tempting smell of fresh blood inching ever closer. A surprise attack. That was how he'd get it. He'd have to catch the blood off guard and make sure that it didn't have a chance to fight back. He crept to the door, his steps in time with the steps on the other side of it. He didn't open it. No, that would have been too simple. Instead, he threw his _whole body_ into the door, knocking it off its hinges and shattering it into pieces.

"Noct!" a familiar voice called into the silence.

In the very corner of his mind, he knew who this person was. In the very corner of his mind, he knew that he didn't want to feed from this person. And that corner of his mind pleaded with the rest of him to pull himself together and think about what he was doing. But the animal that had taken over wouldn't let him. Especially since one of the hinges had impacted with this human's flesh and cut it open. Fresh blood dripped down his arm, and whatever piece of Noctis was still inside his skull was slammed into the corner and completely drowned out by hunger.

He surged forward, pinning the human to the wall. Green eyes stared through spectacles in fear. In terror. But animal Noctis didn't care. The human opened his mouth to plead for its life, but rather than listen, Noctis hissed in his face, venom spewing everywhere. He wouldn't be stopped. This was his _food_ damn it.

Leaning his head down, he sank his teeth into the human's flesh and started to drink like a starving infant. It was his first taste of fresh blood and by the _Six_ was it amazing. The human fought back, pushing at Noctis' arms and pleading in an all-too-familiar voice for Noctis to stop. "P-please, Noct," he spoke, trying to sound calm. His voice shook a bit, and the tiny piece of human Noctis in the corner of his mind pleaded with him to stop. "P-please stop."

The voice was weakening, but that woke up the human side of Noctis, too. His human voice, formerly crammed into the dark recesses of his mind like an old, torn piece of clothing, jumped out and demanded to be heard. It took a few seconds still, though, for the awareness to catch up to him. This human was _not_ just a human. This was one of his life-long best friends. Gasping a sharp breath, he yanked his fangs from Ignis' neck and felt the sticky trickle of Ignis' blood dripping down his chin. A shaky, but still useless, breath in, and Noctis let his arm fall from Ignis' collarbone.

However, Ignis crumpled to the floor with a thud, and Noctis did nothing but stare helplessly at his friend, as he lay there, clinging desperately to life. Just like Noctis had been doing mere days ago. A strangled sob came from his throat, especially given the fact that even though _Ignis_ was sitting there, barely clinging to life, the animal corner of his mind was still aware of the fact that he _very much_ still had blood left in his veins. His human side shut it up with an internal command to stop.

But what else could he do? Ignis was dying. His heartbeat was slowing, his breath was very, very slow and labored... and his eyes weren't even open. Was he supposed to just let Ignis die? Was he supposed to sit there, do nothing, and watch while one of his dearest friends—the few that he actually had—passed away? 

A memory surfaced in that second. He thought back to the alley the other night. Ardyn standing over him, using a fang to slice his vein open and then leaning over Noctis. What had he done with that vein? Noctis could only think of one thing, and it caused him to cast a quick glance toward his own wrist. Would it work with him? He was barely a vampire, wasn't he? Even if it would work... was it the right thing to do? What would Ignis want? Would Ignis _want_ to die in this situation?

No. No he wouldn't. If there was anything in the world that Noctis knew about Ignis it was that he was a survivor. No matter what came his way, if there was a way to come out on the other side and see the next day, he would do it. And he'd vowed, when Gladio had gone missing, never to rest until they found him again. Was it right of Noctis to take that chance away from him just because he was a monster who didn't even have enough control to keep from almost killing his dearest friends?

That was all the affirmation that Noctis needed. He glanced down at his wrist again, before crouching down on the ground. "D-don't die on me, Specs..." he whispered, before picking his friend up—rather effortlessly, at that—and carrying him into the guest room that Noctis had just come from.

Ignis' heartbeat was even fainter now, so if Noctis was going to do this, he had to act quickly. He ran his tongue over his fang, before bringing his wrist to his mouth and sliding it across his skin.

What came out was very much not blood. Instead, pooling around the cut was an opalescent purple and blue liquid. He stared at it for a split second, in stunned silence, before shaking his head hard and leaning over Ignis' almost-lifeless body. "I'm... I'm so sorry, Ignis. I..." He felt moisture under his eyes, as he brought one hand to Ignis' chin to open his mouth. Noctis stuck his wrist between Ignis' lips, bending it slightly so a bit more of the opalescent liquid dripped down his throat.

A mere minute afterward, Ignis' heart stopped beating.

Noctis sobbed, hoping beyond hope that he'd been quick enough in doing... whatever it was he'd done. He raised a hand to his cheeks, wiping away his tears. When his hand dropped back down, he was stunned into silence to see and feel sticky, red blood where tears used to be. His hands shook, as he turned to look at his friend.

"When you wake up... _if_ you wake up... I understand if you never want to speak to me again..." he told his friend's lifeless form.

For now, though... for now he had to do what he could to make sure that Ignis had enough blood to feed him when—if—he woke up.

*

And wake up, he did. Three days later, Ignis awoke. Noctis had done the same that Ignis had done; sought out the vampire underground, with the help of a hastily written address that he'd found next to Ignis' telephone. He had the ring that Ignis had gotten for him, but he still went out under the cover of night, to avoid being around people and having his temptation tested. He'd bought triple the supply of blood that Ignis had for him—most of it was for Ignis, but some of it was for him, just in case he found himself ravenous again.

It had happened, too. The first and second day, he'd been fine. The whole supply of blood that Ignis had found for him, plus... plus Ignis himself... had been plenty to sustain him.

But during the third day, he'd found himself shamefully hungry. Fortunately then, three pouches had been more than enough to sate him. As he rinsed the mess of blood from his face, he heard stirring in Ignis' bedroom. Sometime during day two, he'd moved both Ignis and the mini-fridge into his own bedroom, and pulled up a chair to read through all the documentation and books that Ignis had found on vampires. That was classic Ignis, too. Noctis gets turned into a vampire, and rather than cast him away, rather than just leaving him there to turn alone, Ignis took care of him.

And how did Noctis thank him? By drinking his gods damned blood.

All Noctis could hope for now was that Ignis wouldn't try to kill him. It was what he deserved... of _course_ it was what he deserved. But it was too much to hope for that Ignis wouldn't hate him. As Ignis stirred, Noctis hurried over to the mini-fridge and grabbed two pouches of blood to start Ignis out with. He made sure the blinds were completely closed to that no sun filtered in, and blinked back tears as his friend's eyes opened.

"N-Noct?" he asked, his voice as scratchy as Noctis' had been when he woke up.

Noctis blinked back tears and nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, it's me," he answered. "Ignis I-"

Ignis cut him off with a hand in the air, sitting up. He took a glance around the room, and didn't even bother reaching for his glasses. After a few moments of silence, and a look that Noctis recognized as Ignis taking stock of a situation, internalizing his analysis, Ignis finally spoke up. "Give me one of those, please," he stated, his voice still scratchy. He reached for one of the pouches in Noctis' hands.

Nodding eagerly, Noctis handed one of the pouches over to Ignis and watched as he tore into it with reckless abandon. He drank tentatively at first, but then sucked the red liquid down, emptied it completely, threw the bag to the floor and reached out for the other. "Another."

This repeated until the stock that Noctis had collected was two-thirds gone. As Ignis stood over his sink, washing the excess blood from his face and hands, he turned to look at Noctis. "I don't blame you for what happened," he spoke up, the first words he'd said that weren't ways of asking for more blood.

"But I-"

Ignis cut him off again. "I know," he insisted, picking up the light ring and sliding it on his finger. "And while I'm quite obviously not okay with what happened... it does afford me one thing."

Noctis glanced down at the floor for a moment, then looked back up at Ignis. "And what's that?" he asked.

"I don't have to sleep anymore," Ignis started, "which means that with this ring, I can truly search for Gladio until I find him."

To say that Noctis was surprised was a tragic understatement. But honestly, that was something that Ignis did. He could find the smallest positive in a situation that didn't seem like there should be any to find. It stood to reason that it wouldn't change just because he wasn't alive anymore. Noctis swallowed—more of a reflex, since there was nothing there—and looked up at Ignis again.

"I'll come with you. I'll help," he offered. "Unless you don't want-"

Ignis stepped forward, placing his hands on Noctis' shoulders. "Noctis. I don't hate you for what happened. If anyone is to blame, it's me. I should have known better than to just calmly walk back into the house, knowing that you were here and could wake up at any second. I'd read that newborn vampires can be ravenous. If-" he paused, looked around the bedroom at all of the torn and empty blood pouches around the room, then laughed a humorless laugh- "this is any indication, I think I can vouch for its truth now. It was like tempting a recovering alcoholic with a bottle of fine booze. I should have been more careful."

After a short pause, Ignis spoke up again. "Please come help me find Gladio," he begged.

This, of course, meant leaving Insomnia. Noctis had never been outside the walls before, but he was alarmingly unafraid. And even if he was, he owed Ignis more than he could ever expect to pay back. Noctis nodded. "Of course." He was still torn apart, because whether Ignis admitted it or not, Ignis wouldn't be in this position, wouldn't be _this_ , if he'd just been able to control himself. But if Ignis didn't want to hear him blame himself, then Ignis wouldn't hear him blame himself.

Ignis nodded once, letting his hands drop from Noctis' shoulders and rest at his sides. "We leave at nightfall," he told Noctis.


	3. Chapter 3

The Regalia's black paint glinted in the hot, hot Leiden sun, as they pulled over so that Ignis could examine the map. After a day and a half of driving, they'd crossed the bridge and come out in Leide—if Ignis' map was to be trusted—and it was almost like a whole new unseen world was in front of them. Noctis glanced down at his finger, at the ring, thanking it silently for allowing him to continue to walk around in the sunlight. It was extremely warm against his skin, but he was still glad for it.

Ignis squinted against the sun as it set straight in front of them. "I'm surprised your father let us have the Regalia..." he admitted as he pulled back into the street.

The conversation with Regis had been anything but pleasant. His dad was a combination between devastated and furious. Devastated, because he had no choice but to exile his own son. Furious, because not only had Noctis gone out at night and paid for it, but he'd bitten Ignis and doomed him to be exiled, too. When his father cried, Noctis cried, too. The blood tears shocked him just as much every time he saw them. And the horror on his father's face when he _saw_ the blood tears cut Noctis straight down to the core. When he left, Regis made him promise to take care. But in a far more shocking twist, he'd offered Noctis and Ignis the Regalia.

When they'd driven away, Noctis had seen the tears in his father's eyes... and started crying all over again. Several blood-stained napkins littered the floor, and Noctis had apologized to Ignis about it a thousand times. Except he'd heard Ignis ask for a tissue and wipe his own eyes once or twice, too.

"I know," Noctis finally replied, after wiping his eyes again. "But I'm also not. He loves me. I know he does. And I think..." He paused, choking on a little bit of emotion. "I think sending me away hurt him more than it hurt me."

Ignis frowned and nodded his head. "I imagine it couldn't have been easy. His only son." He looked from the road to Noctis for a second, frowning apologetically, before tilting his head to glance at the gas gauge. "We need to get gas, but I must admit to a bit of trepidation when it comes to getting out of the car in a public area..." he confessed, running his front teeth across his lip.

With a hum, Noctis nodded his agreement. "But it's something we'll have to get used to eventually, right?" he asked. "Being around people?" Through the tinted window of the Regalia, he could see the gas station in the distance.

"It is. I'm still feeling a touch of anxiety, though. We've exhausted much of our blood supply. We'll have to check the underground when we get to Hammerhead." Ignis pointed at the dashboard. "Can you look in there for the mini-clipboard, please? It has all the addresses to all of the Vampire Underground bases in Lucis, so once we get gas, we'll go straight for that."

Noctis nodded and grabbed the clipboard, looking it over. "It looks like it's in the sub-basement of the diner. This place looks really small. I'm surprised they even have an underground," he mused, turning his head and glancing over at the small outpost as it got ever-closer.

Ignis nodded his head. "Most places do," he explained. "Lestallum has more than one, but I don't think we can make it there on this tank of gas. And it would likely be better to get more... more food, since our supply is running low."

Noctis looked over his shoulder at the blood cooler, and frowned. It was hard, referring to it as food. It wasn't food. It was blood. Hearing Ignis refer to it as food, too, made a pang of guilt surge through him like a lightning bolt. "Do you think we'll look conspicuous? I mean... I know I was a little bit pale before, but..." He huffed a breath that was supposed to be a laugh at his own expense. "I look like a slightly off-color piece of paper."

With a single nod, Ignis shrugged a shoulder. "We'll likely stand out a bit, it's true," he agreed. "But people out here see vampires more often than people in Insomnia, so we're in luck there. We may be gawked at, but we won't immediately be decried as villains, so I think Lucis may be the best place for us." He slowed down as they approached the gas station, pulling in and coming to a stop.

Before getting out of the car, Noctis reached into the cooler and pulled out two blood pouches. He passed one over to Ignis.

Ignis nodded a thank you, then poked a hole in the bottom corner in the pouch. It was a neater way to eat, and Noctis took a cue and followed his lead. He drank it dry, watching as the crumpled plastic pulled the blood right up into its wrinkles. It looked almost like veins. Noctis grabbed two napkins from the dash and turned to look at Ignis, offering him one. Once Ignis took it, Noctis wiped his own mouth.

"Do you think..." he paused, closing his eyes and then opening them again. "Do you think we're ready for this? I can already smell them, Specs."

At the sound of the old childhood nickname, Ignis adjusted the sunglasses that had taken the place of his glasses. "I know. Me too," Ignis replied, looking at the steering wheel between his hands for a second and then sighing. "But if we don't, we'll just spend all of our time in the car." He looked around outside and breathed a pointless breath. "We'll never know if we can handle it unless we try."

Ignis paused, then continued, turning in his seat so that he was facing Noctis. "Listen, Noct. If you get the temptation, I want you to promise me that you'll run. No matter what. I'll do the same, but I want you to promise me. The Regalia isn't important. Anything in it isn't important. What's important-"

But Noctis cut him off with a nod. "Is those people. I know. I'll run, I promise," he told Ignis, a little bit sad that neither of them seemed to trust him.

"Alright. Let's go," Ignis encouraged, squeezing Noctis' shoulder for a brief moment before reaching for the door handle.

 _Don't breathe,_ Noctis told himself as he reached for the doorknob. _It'll be okay if you don't breathe, and you don't_ have _to breathe, so... so just don't breathe._

Truthfully, though neither of them seemed to trust him, his own trust in himself was far lower than even Ignis' probably was. That was saying something, since Ignis wouldn't even _be_ in this predicament if it wasn't for him. But the few times that Noctis had been around people had been so, so difficult. The temptation had even been there to drink his own _father's_ blood, and that was when Noctis truly knew that he was a monster. Glancing at himself in the rear view mirror, he nodded. Ignis was absolutely right. They wouldn't know how much they could handle if they didn't try.

With the door open, though, his nose was assaulted with a myriad of mouthwatering aromas. Like walking into a restaurant. He placed his hand on the roof of the Regalia and fought with himself for as long as he could, but eventually gave in and breathed in slowly. It was hard. That animal in his mind was screaming at him, saying that this _whole town_ was a meal.

He shook his head hard, before turning to look at Ignis, who was filling the gas tank, but watching every single person who walked past with the same pained expression on his face as Noctis imagined he was wearing. It was fortunate that there weren't many people around. This was a good buffer; a somewhat safe place to ease them into being around humans. If they ever found themselves in places like Lestallum, or even out of the country like Altissia, they'd truly be doomed. Baby steps. That was what they had to do.

It seemed like Ignis was having a very difficult time, though. He closed his eyes and reopened them no fewer than five times over the course of refilling the gas tank, and looked over at Noctis. Even behind the sunglasses, Noctis could see that he was struggling. "If you want to go find the entrance to the underground and wait for me there, I'll... I'll go pay for the gas."

Ignis nodded as he sheathed the gas pump. "Be careful, Noct," he warned.

"You too," Noctis repeated.

A woman with bright red hair hurried across the parking lot, past the gas pumps, and Noctis actually felt himself physically shudder at the scent of her blood. Not a _good_ shudder, either. It smelled... off. Like he used to feel about his refrigerator when he hadn't cleaned it out in a couple of weeks. That helped a little bit, helped him enough to be able to get into the gas station, though he watched after her with a curious expression on his face. Weren't all humans supposed to smell delicious? Not that he was complaining. It was certainly better than walking up to the cash register and getting that same, familiar, moving blood smell.

The man noticed it a couple of times, asking Noctis if he was okay, which Noctis waved off with an "I'm fine," each time. He paid the price for the gas, said what he hoped was a pleasant goodbye to the cashier, then left the store to find Ignis.

Across the parking area, Ignis stood in front of the diner. He stared up at the roof of the building with a nervous expression on his face, but he also kept looking over his shoulder at the desert in the distance, like he was looking for something specific. Noctis approached him slowly with an eyebrow arched. "Specs, you okay?"

Ignis jumped, turning to look at Noctis with a surprised nod. "This is just... alarmingly more difficult than I thought it would be." At his sides, his hands were balled into fists. He turned and glanced to the horizon again, squinting against the setting sun and pressing his lips together hard.

"What's wrong?" Noctis asked. "Is there something out there?"

Jumping and turning back to Noctis, Ignis shook his head no. "No. No, I don't see anything. But it's so odd. I smell something. Something... familiar. In the distance." He turned around and looked out that way completely now.

Noctis squinted into the horizon and tried to see if he could spot anything that would make Ignis react like that, but there was nothing. "Could it be something in town that you're smelling?" he asked. "I know that there are so many smells around here that it's overwhelming. Maybe your mind's just playing tricks on you?"

Ignis looked toward the diner and shrugged his shoulders. "Probably." He pointed at the diner. "Let's go. The information I found says that all we have to do is tell the man in there of our circumstance, and he'll let us in."

The pair walked into the diner, and Noctis looked around. He used to love diners. He used to love eating greasy food, and the smell inside of diners always made him hungry. But right now, all he could smell—literally, _all_ he could smell—was the blood flowing through the veins of the man behind the diner counter. It smelled appetizing. Not _decadent_ , no, but he likened it to his feelings on... potato salad. Noctis didn't like potato salad or hate it, but he would eat it if someone put it in front of him. _Except he's not potato salad. He's a person,_ he told himself, trying to quell the animal that told him to just go for it.

"How can I help you boys today?" the man, whose name tag read Takka, asked.

Noctis swallowed nervously. "We're from Insomnia," he explained. "Or... we were. We're um... looking for the underground?"

Takka eyed them, from Noctis to Ignis—who was still looking out the window, over at the horizon—and then back to Noctis. "Y'all new to these parts?" he questioned, as he stepped out from behind the counter.

With a nod, Noctis stuffed his hands into his pockets, concentrating on pushing the animal voice back into the corner of his mind. "Just today, actually," he explained. "Our, uh... food supply is running low, so we were hoping to buy some from you."

The way Ignis was acting was very odd. If he wasn't staring out at the horizon, he was staring at his hands, mouthing to himself. Noctis couldn't make out the words he was saying, but whatever it was, it was obviously affecting him pretty deeply. He blinked a couple of times, before taking a couple of barely noticeable steps toward the window.

"It ain't that way," Takka explained.

Noctis grabbed hold of Ignis' shoulder and shook him slightly. "You good, Specs?" he asked.

But Ignis' jumpy response and nod surprised Noctis almost as much as Ignis. Takka eyed them suspiciously from across the room, but Ignis nodded. "Yes. Yes, I'm sorry," he pressed his lips together, still glancing out the window of the diner.

Takka beckoned for them to follow him again. "I dunno what the situation in Insomnia's like, but out here we ain't got a whole massive supply of blood available, so we gotta charge a bit more," he explained. "Gonna be five hundred gil a pouch, or if'n you wanna buy a whole box, it's gonna be two thousand gil." He opened the walk-in fridge and led Noctis and Ignis inside, before opening a door in the back.

When the door to the walk-in closed, it was almost like Ignis snapped back into himself. He looked around the dark, cold room, then turned to Noctis, as though shocked at himself. "Two thousand gil seems a touch steep," he stated, finally joining the conversation. "Is it like that all over the country?" He eyed all the food on the shelves a little sadly.

That made Noctis a little sad, too. Ignis had been something of a gourmet before, and now he couldn't even enjoy the food he cooked. More guilt flared up.

"Some places're easier than others," Takka told them. "Lestallum's got the biggest supply. Cauthess' even worse than us, though. You're not gonna get outta there for less'n five thousand gil a box. If I was y'all, I wouldn't go there, unless I had to." He led them down into the sub-basement, and flicked a light on.

Several other vampires hid down here, of varying ages. A pair hissed at the sudden light, but Takka continued, unfazed. "Gonna need that gil up front, boys," he insisted.

Noctis reached into his pocket and fished out his wallet, gathering some banknotes from inside. "Four boxes. Do you, by any chance, have a couple coolers you could sell us?"

"I can put 'em in battery operated coolers for y'all, but that'll cost extra. Those're made and provided by Cid and Cindy at the garage, and I gotta pay 'em back at the end of the day," Takka explained. "Those cost seven fifty gil a piece, but y'all can reuse 'em." He held his hand out, like he expected Noctis to say yes.

But what choice did he have, really? He fished out some more cash, thankful that he'd made a trip to the bank the night before he'd been bitten to make a withdrawal, with the intent of going to pay all his bills. Later, they may get into some trouble. But for now, they were okay. "Enough coolers to fit all the blood we're buying," he told Takka.

Ignis put a hand on Noctis' shoulder. "I can pay for the coolers if-"

Noctis shook his head no. "It's fine. I'm still okay for now," he told his friend. "Maybe later on, I'll need your help." For now, though, he felt like he owed Ignis at least this.

After Takka came back with all of the coolers on a dolly, Noctis and Ignis picked them each up in one hand and Takka led them back through the walk-in fridge and to the diner. "There's a lot out there that'll be useful to y'all, but most of it's in Lestallum." He pointed toward the horizon.

When Noctis followed Takka's hand, he was surprised to see that Ignis had stopped a few steps back. Once again, he was staring at the horizon. The same spot. Noctis popped the trunk and put his two coolers inside, then headed toward Ignis to grab his two from his hands. His friend barely even reacted, just let them fall from his hands and craned his neck in an attempt to get a better look into the distance. Noctis still had no clue why. He turned and thanked Takka, who turned to make his way back into the diner. Then, his attention went to Ignis... just in time to see him take off in a sprint toward the area he'd been staring at.

Noctis blinked twice, but took off in a sprint behind him. "Specs! Hey, Specs!" he called out. " _Ignis!_ " But Ignis didn't respond. Were the smells too much for him to take? He had promised that he'd run if they became too much, so it was possible.

Ignis was headed for a camp, and Noctis was a little bit worried to discover that a fire was lit _at_ that camp. What kind of human would be camping out at night in a place like this?

No matter how quickly he ran, Noctis just couldn't catch up with Ignis, who leaped with all of his leg strength up to the center of the raised camping spot. "Ignis, stop!" he shouted after his friend. "Stop! You don't want to do this!" Whatever human was sleeping at that camp, Noctis would _not_ allow Ignis to lose his human voice. He would _not_ allow Ignis to be like him.

Jumping up to the top of the rocks, though, Noctis was stunned beyond belief to see exactly who Ignis had pinned to the ground.

"Gladio!"


	4. Chapter 4

It had taken all of Noctis' newfound strength to get Ignis off of Gladio. Even more so to hold him back. After that, it had taken a good hour and a half to calm Ignis down. While Ignis calmed, Noctis explained most of the situation. Most. Excepting, of course, the part about him being the reason that Ignis was a vampire. He'd tried to explain that; opened his mouth to speak the words, even. But Ignis wouldn't allow it. He'd stopped Noctis from talking, and explained in an all-too-emotional voice, how he'd been looking for Noctis when a second vampire attacked him.

Compounded with the guilt of being the one to turn Ignis in the first place, now Ignis was lying for him. Of course, he understood why Ignis did it. Gladio had never been a terribly 'together' person when it came to his emotions. When it came to protecting the people he loved, he was even less so. Put Iris or Ignis or _usually_ Noctis in peril, and Gladio would tear down whatever had put them _into_ that peril. Noctis was on the wrong side of that battle right now. So, yes. He knew why Ignis was lying for him. But the fact that he even felt like he had to do it made Noctis feel terrible—and made him all the more determined to make sure that everything was easier for Ignis. That started with calming him down.

And finally, through a team effort with Gladio, he succeeded. The calm, however, had come with a very, very unfortunate realization, and guilt had immediately enveloped Ignis in its cruel grasp.

"I'm... I'm so sorry, Gladio. I-"

Gladio shook his head and took a step forward toward Ignis, who took a step backward. "Iggy, it's okay... I mean, it's... you're..." He paused and swallowed thickly. "It's not your fault." Emotion lined his voice, and Noctis could only imagine exactly what he was going through. Separated from his loved ones for weeks, and the first time he sees one of them, it was Ignis... who immediately tried to kill him.

And poor Ignis. Noctis had a feeling that when Gladio went missing when hunting for werewolves, the worst had happened. That he'd either been killed or turned. Now, though, standing face-to-face with him... _smelling_ him... Noctis knew exactly what had happened. He'd been turned. The smell was hard to describe. Like a wet dog, mixed with repulsive, rancid meat. Were Noctis able, he might have thrown up. But as it stood, it took all he had in him not to curl his lip and wrinkle his nose in disgust. It raised a couple of questions for Noctis, honestly. Ignis' reaction was one of fervent hunger; but right now, Noctis didn't even want to think about feeding, let alone feeding on Gladio.

Ignis sat in a camping chair, with his head in his hands. "I just couldn't control myself," he explained. "I smelled you all the way from Hammerhead." He glanced over his shoulder at the small settlement, frowning with his whole face. "I didn't know what it was, but I felt a faint undertone of you underneath the most delectable aroma I've ever smelled before."

That gave Noctis pause. "Really?" he asked. "Because I don't get delectable at all. I smell something, but it's _definitely_ not delectable." He curled his lip.

"Hey, you're not smellin' like roses yourself, Noct," Gladio pointed out from where he stood, tending to the fire. "I mean, Iggy still smells the same. Just, a little bit different. But you. Smells like you've been bathin' in the really lousy Accordan cologne that those guys at clubs always wear."

Noctis scoffed. "Least I don't smell like wet dog and rotten meat," he commented.

Somehow, the arguing managed to make Ignis smile from where he sat. "Now isn't the time for this, you two. I admit," he turned to look at Gladio, blinking a couple of times. "He smells very different. But I don't get wet dog _or_ rotten meat. It's... it's very difficult to describe and even harder to ignore." Glancing up at Gladio, he frowned.

Gladio, too, was frowning. The pair of them had always been in love to the point that it was almost sickening. And because of this new scent thing, whatever it was that made Gladio somehow smell great to Ignis and horrible to Noctis... they could barely be near each other. Noctis cleared his throat.

Maybe Noctis should have been more willing to beat around the bush a bit, but he and Gladio had always been pretty straightforward with one another, so he figured that Gladio would at least be okay with the upfront question. "So, when did the werewolf attack you?" he asked, sitting down on the ground.

It seemed like Gladio was actually taken off-guard for a second, but he pulled in a sigh and shrugged. "On the full moon, obviously," he started. "Dave and I had tracked 'em to this one path up a mountain outside of the Crown City. They cornered us, but I knocked us a path with my shield." He raised an arm in front of him, like he was holding up his shield. "We were runnin' away, because it was just the two of us against four wolves, y'know? Wasn't a whole lot we could do. We were surrounded. So, we ran. And one of 'em pummeled me to the ground and took a chunk right outta my shoulder."

"Your shoulder looks fine now, though," Noctis pointed out.

Gladio nodded. "I turned before the night was out," he explained. "Not a hundred percent sure what happened that night, but I, uh... try not to think about it if I don't have to." He glanced down at the fire, moving the embers around to keep it burning hot. "Woke up the next morning, though, naked as a jaybird in the middle of the woods, and my shoulder was healed. Just got this nasty scar now." He pulled back his shirt to reveal his marred flesh.

Nodding, Noctis looked over at Ignis. "It's weird to me that he smells so good to you. All the stuff you had me read say that vampires and werewolves are supposed to smell horrible to each other," he explained.

With a shrug, Gladio glanced over at Ignis with a sad, longing expression on his face. "He doesn't smell bad to me, either," he explained. "You do." He glanced at Noctis for a second. "But not him. If it wasn't for all the other obvious signs, I'd barely believe he was, y'know, a vampire." He turned to look back at the fire.

Ignis frowned and nodded. "There's definitely nothing bad about it," he admitted.

Despite how dramatic, and sort of sad, the situation was, Noctis managed a soft laugh. "Y'know, I think you can handle hugging each other. Look at how long you've been sitting here, Specs. You could've gotten up and lunged at him, attacked him, at _any_ time. And I was ready to stop you if you did. But you didn't. And you know why that is?" he asked.

"'Cause Iggy's amazing at everything he does?" Gladio asked, a weak smile crossing his face.

Laughing softly, Ignis shook his head no. "Because... because I'd never be able to cope with it if I harmed you," he murmured, but Noctis and Gladio heard him clearly.

And because of that, Noctis nodded. "Exactly," he nodded sagely. "So, if you don't get up and hug each other, I'm probably going to get huffy and annoyed. And neither of you want that." He crossed his arms. "You've been apart for weeks, Specs thought you were dead. And you're sitting across this campsite like strangers. Trust me when I say that I'll handle the situation if things get dangerous. But I don't think they will." He placed a hand on Ignis' shoulder, trying to encourage his friend and tell him that it was okay. He'd be damned if he would be the reason that Ignis couldn't be near Gladio anymore.

Ignis glanced from Noctis to Gladio, and pulled himself to his feet. For a split second, Noctis was worried, because the speed with which Ignis closed the gap between them barely gave Gladio enough time to get to his feet. But the worry turned out to be baseless, as Ignis merely wrapped his arms tightly around Gladio and hugged him desperately. Ignis may have been struggling, but he didn't show it. He was either internalizing it, or was just too grateful to be with Gladio again to even care.

"I missed you..." Ignis whispered. "I was afraid that..." He trailed off, unable—or unwilling—to complete that sentence.

Gladio smiled softly, hugging Ignis to him tightly. "But I'm not. And I missed you, too."

In a daring move that surprised Noctis, Ignis pulled back from the hug, and leaned up to press his lips to Gladio's. It was a simple, chaste kiss, but at the same time, it probably wasn't simple in the slightest for Ignis. But he was doing it. Maybe, for him, the problem of _almost_ making the mistake of attacking Gladio was enough.

To be honest, Noctis felt a little bit out of place. The pair of them shared an intimate moment, and Noctis had to avert his eyes so that he didn't feel like an intruder. It was okay, though. Not only did he owe it to Ignis, but Gladio seemed to feel alarmingly emotional at the moment, too. Between the discovery of Ignis' vampirism, and the fact that they'd both been victims of terrible circumstance... guilt leaped up and threatened to choke Noctis again—as if he could be choked—and he glanced back over at Ignis and Gladio again.

"I'm gonna go back and get the Regalia. I'll drive it over to the parking spot there," he told the two of them.

Ignis seemed hesitant to let him, and he looked at Noctis with concern in his eyes. "I'm a little worried. Both for my ability to control myself around Gladio and for your... er... lack of driving skills, shall we say?" he commented, the faintest of grins crossing his face.

Scoffing, Noctis rolled his eyes. "For one, I really don't think you'll hurt Gladio. I know you came close before, but I don't think you'll do it again." Maybe it was too much blind faith to put into someone, but if anyone could control themselves in a situation like this, it was Ignis. If he made a mistake, he always did everything that he could to ensure that he never made it again. "And for two, my driving skills aren't _that_ bad."

Gladio snorted a laugh. "You keep telling yourself that, Noct," he teased.

After a beat, Ignis turned his head to look up at Gladio. "It's up to you, ultimately. Do you trust me to-"

He didn't even get to finish the sentence, before Gladio leaned down and kissed him again. "I trust you, Iggy. I know that look in your eyes. You're beating yourself up more than anyone else here is, so I'll be shocked if you try anything." He smiled, brushing his thumb along Ignis' cheek.

Noctis didn't really need or want to see or hear any more of this. He turned and waved to his friends over his shoulder, smiling a weak smile as he started across the desert to the car.

It was odd, how acutely aware he was of every single sound. Branches cracked in the distance, and a pack of coyote howled from somewhere very, very far away. The smells, too, were surprising. Each animal had a distinctive smell. A herd of anak to the west smelled very grassy, which made sense since they primarily ate grass. The sabertusks off to the south, on the other side of Hammerhead, had a powerful carnivorous smell to them. He could still smell Gladio's... _odor_ in the distance, as well as Ignis' scent. Each competing scent tickled his nostrils a bit, and he found himself wanting to get to Hammerhead quicker.

Except, as he neared, a brand new scent puffed, almost like a waft of pleasant perfume, into his space. It smelled almost like cinnamon. Cinnamon and sunshine. Noctis' eyes widened when it hit him. To the northeast. _Ignore it. Whatever it is, ignore it and just keep going to get the car..._

Noctis got closer, and in the quiet of the night, he heard another couple of branches cracking in the distance. And then a couple more. Rhythmically, rapidly... like someone was running from something. The smell entered his nose again. Cinnamon and sunshine, mixed with something else, too. The second smell was strong. Dangerous. _Another vampire?_ Noctis asked himself. He wasn't sure how he knew, but it was like some sort of radar sense went off in his head. Like he could _sense_ the other creature. Whatever the first creature—with the cinnamon and sunshine scent—was, they were in danger.

He took off in a run then, toward the noises and the smells. Sprinting with all his strength, Noctis got ever-closer to wherever the ruckus was going on. Every step closer, though, the cinnamon and sunshine scent got stronger. And it was incredible. However he had felt when he'd smelled Ignis' blood on his first day as a vampire... this was about twelve times worse. 

Against his volition, as he ran, Noctis breathed in a deep breath through his nose.

The amount that Noctis had eaten in the past few days was _probably_ shameful. As far as he knew, anyway. But this was making him feel like he hadn't touched anything since he'd woken back up again. By the time the chaser and the chasee appeared in his vision, he wasn't positive if he was here to save the victim or to ensure that the other vampire didn't get them anymore.

He drew closer, though, and the pursuer came into view. He was obviously a vampire. He was elderly, but he ran faster than any other human Noctis had ever seen. He laughed after the blond. The effortlessness with which he ran afforded him time to easily throw out chiding taunts. 

The old vampire was running toward a blond man, laughing wildly as he got closer and closer to a cliff face that would effectively block the blond from running anymore. "You're running out of room, there, Sixteen!" he taunted, cackling as he sped up a little bit, closing the distance between himself and Cinnamon Sunshine.

Cinnamon Sunshine slipped, almost falling to the ground, and the elderly man chortled like someone had just told the funniest joke he'd ever heard. He slowed down his stride, like he was toying with the man. Noctis' anger flared, and he couldn't hold back anymore. He surged forward, pummeling the elderly man to the ground and hissing.

"Why you insolent-" The man looked up at Noctis, seething. And then, it was almost like realization dawned on him "Oh. Oh, well this is _delicious_. Prince Noctis of Lucis. You're one of us now, are you?"

Noctis narrowed his eyes. He was a prince, yes, so obviously his face was reasonably well-known around places outside of Insomnia. But the way this man referred to him, with a mixture of disgust and amusement, made Noctis' skin crawl. "What's it to you, old timer?" Noctis spat, eyes narrowed, with another hiss.

The man shoved out against Noctis, sending him sailing backward a little ways. "I," he started, closing the distance between himself and Noctis, "am Emperor Iedolas Aldercapt of Niflheim." The introduction was unneeded and unwanted, but the man didn't stop there. "And you would be wise to show some respect to your betters, son."

Snorting a laugh, Noctis pulled himself to his feet. "Excuse me if I'm not afraid of you. Leave. Leave him alone, leave the citizens of this settlement alone." He summoned his sword, as if it would do anything against a vampire. It was more of a threat.

"Oh, I see. Want this one all to yourself, do you?" Aldercapt mused, turning to look at Cinnamon Sunshine, who was backing away a couple more steps. Why hadn't he just run away? "I can't blame you. Sixteen here is one of our finest works, you see. Belonged to a chancellor of mine. And then he escaped."

Noctis narrowed his eyes. "Belonged?"

Aldercapt laughed. "What a sheltered life you of Insomnia lead," he sneered. "Yes, belonged. We need to feed somehow, don't we?" He surged over to Cinnamon Sunshine, grabbing him by the arm and yanking him toward Noctis. "You see?" Jerking the blond's head to the side, Aldercapt revealed a myriad of bite marks on his neck. Some were relatively fresh and healing, and some had scarred over long, long ago. The very sight made Noctis shudder. "We don't like the _effort_ of the hunt, so we... _keep_ our meals." He threw the blond to the ground, and stepped forward toward Noctis. "If you'd like, we can take care of this one together, you can come back to Niflheim with me... and we can get you one of your own. I see how hard it is for you to resist. He smells incredible, doesn't he?"

Moving quickly, Noctis closed the distance between himself and Aldercapt, throwing him backward a ways. "You're a _monster_!" he spat. "You and all of your people. Disgusting! They're _people_! You were a person once-"

With a laugh, Aldercapt shook his head. "You Insomnians. So self-righteous. So, it's better to hunt your meals? Kill people rather than just keep them alive in a mutually beneficial arrangement? They keep their lives, we get our meals." He shrugged nonchalantly.

"Leave." Noctis' voice was a low rumble, a foreign sound to even him. "I won't ask you again."

After sizing the situation up, Aldercapt laughed once more and stepped toward the blond. "If you insist, Prince Noctis. But let's see how well you resist without this..." He moved toward the blond again, before grabbing hold of a black wrist cuff that was wrapped around the blond's wrist. He yanked it off and tossed it to the ground.

And all of a sudden it was almost as though the scent of cinnamon and sunshine doubled. Noctis couldn't resist breathing it in, and in a split second, it was almost like when he'd first smelled Ignis all over again. The animal took over his brain, shoving his awareness into the far back corner of his mind and holding it in place. Noctis shuddered with the attempt to keep himself in place, but it was fruitless. Cinnamon Sunshine started to search for the wristband on the ground, and the movement made the scent waft through the air. It teased Noctis' animal side like a meal to a starving man.

He lunged forward as fast as he could, pummeling the blond to the ground and hissing in his face.

Aldercapt turned and walked away, laughing.


	5. Chapter 5

"Wait! Please!"

Once again, Noctis' own mind was waging a war with itself. His human side was fighting back against every other instinct in his mind as they screamed for him to just _sink his teeth into the blond's neck_. He could still hear Aldercapt's laughter ringing in his mind, too. Taunting him. Telling him without telling him that he was becoming little more than what Aldercapt himself was. His human side broke through for a second, but was quickly pushed back into the corner by that other piece of his mind. Cinnamon and sunshine flooded his nostrils and muddied his already struggling brain.

The blond struggled more than Ignis had, but still didn't make any headway. He whimpered, cried out, begged for Noctis not to kill him... and somehow, the sound of that voice brought Noctis' human side back out to the foreground. It was odd. Ignis had pleaded, too. He'd begged Noctis to stop. But not like this.

Noctis' human voice pushed back against his animal voice more and more. Fought. Battled for dominance. It spoke volumes, honestly, that all Noctis had done at this point was kept the blond pinned to the ground; that he'd lasted this long without going for the bite like he had with Ignis. His body trembled, and he loosened the grip that he had on one of the blond's arms.

The blond spoke from beneath him again. "If you... if you just let me get the wristband, it won't be as bad! I promise," he begged, pushing at Noctis with his one free hand.

Noctis, in a motion that was very difficult to force himself to take, rolled off of the blond and onto his back. He sat up and looked around at his feet for the small black wristband. Didn't dare stand; didn't dare make things any more difficult on himself than they already were. Right now, the animal was screaming at him, asking _why in the hell aren't you feeding_?! But Noctis focused on the task at hand. Cinnamon and sunshine assaulted his senses still; taunting him, teasing him.

But before he could make any other motion, the blond shouted from behind him. "I found it! Hang on, hang on let me..." Noctis heard the blond moving around a couple of feet behind him, and was quite relieved when, indeed, the aroma of the blond's blood went back down to a tolerable level.

Relieved, but no less ashamed of the fact that, once again, he'd almost freaked out and lost control, he didn't stand right away. Just stayed sitting, with his back to the blond. "Sorry," he murmured under his breath. In the nearly-quiet darkness, though, it would have been impossible for the blond not to hear him.

The blond's scent was getting closer, though, as though he didn't realize exactly how torturous his scent was to Noctis. Even in this muted form, it smelled like heaven. It smelled like the only thing in the whole entire world that Noctis wanted. Warmth grasped his shoulder, though, and he was momentarily distracted from that. Warmth of human skin. Noctis stared at the blond's hand, the visible veins beneath his skin, and swallowed thickly.

"It's okay," the blond answered. "I'm, um... I'm just glad you didn't do it."

Chuckling a humorless laugh, Noctis nodded his agreement. "So am I," he stated.

The blond sat on the ground, butterfly-style, and turned to look at Noctis with a nervous expression on his face. "So, you're a prince, Noctis?" he asked.

Noctis shrugged. "I was," he answered.

After a few seconds of quiet, the blond said, "I don't know if it works like that. I think, just because you're, you know... one of them? Doesn't mean you've got to lose that part of you. You're still the same person. You're just... you just don't have to breathe. Or sleep." He paused, glancing over at Noctis again.

"In other words, I'm dead. Walking, talking, seeing, feeling dead." The words weren't as comforting as the blond probably hoped they were. "Can't have royal blood if you don't have any blood." Ardyn's words still haunted Noctis sometimes, in quiet moments or in weak moments like this.

The blond frowned. "I don't believe that. I think... just because the blood is gone, doesn't mean the person it belongs to is gone, too. You're still the same person you were before, right? You still have the same personality and you're like... you have the same mind, right?" He shrugged one shoulder.

Noctis laughed a halfhearted laugh. "Except when I smell blood like... like, you know... yours," he shrugged a shoulder, turning his head to look at him, finally.

Except it was more than blood _like_ his. It _was_ his. Noctis had been relatively fine in town that day. He'd at least been able to cope with things, and not pounce on anyone there. He'd been fine, but tempted, around his dad. He'd been _mostly_ fine since Ignis. And then, all of a sudden, Cinnamon Sunshine's blood turns him into this. He ran his tongue along his fang and sighed softly.

"Also not totally true," Sunshine pointed out. "C'mon, dude, you've been around my blood since after I found this thing, and you haven't done anything crazy, right?" He shrugged one shoulder and swept a hand through his hair.

Noctis glanced over at him again, catching sight of all the bite marks on his neck. Scar over scar over scar. Some of them were just simple, two-bite scars. Some of them, though, reminded Noctis of his own bite mark, which was the only real mark on his flesh right now. There was one that was a two inch long gash across his neck, right beneath his ear. Sunshine caught him staring and raised a hand, covering the flesh. But Noctis saw then, that the bite scars covered more than just his neck. There were some peppered on his arms, some on his shoulders... how long had he been forced to be some chancellor's food source? How long had he been forced to keep someone else sustained, never being able to live himself? Noctis looked away from him, self-conscious for being caught staring, and scratched a hand through his hair.

To what Sunshine had said, Noctis shrugged. "I guess not. It's not easy, though. You smell... incredible," he admitted. "Which... probably sounds weird." He chuckled softly and glanced down at his hands.

But Sunshine shook his head no. "I've heard it a lot. My... um... my former owner-" the words made him glance down to the dust beneath them- "used to tell me that all the time. It was angrier than it sounded when you said it, though. And I was kind of—bred, I guess?—to be this way. It's why I wear this." He lifted his hand to show the black wristband.

"What does that do?" Noctis asked, glancing at Sunshine's wrist.

Sunshine shrugged. "It suppresses my scent. To most vampires, I'm barely detectable." He glanced at his wrist again. "Made it easier for my owner—my _former_ owner—to ignore me when he didn't need me, he said."

Barely detectable. Noctis had to laugh a little bit at that. "Well, he must've had a busted nose, because I could smell you all the way over there." He pointed over into the distance, like that was enough of an indicator as to how far away he'd been. Really, though. He'd been pretty far away. A few dozen meters, at least. "Totally overpowered the nature." Noctis chuckled awkwardly.

Humming in thought, Sunshine shrugged a shoulder. "Guess maybe it's on the fritz. I'll have to see if I can fix it," he mused.

Noctis shook his head, though. "Nah, it's working fine. As soon as you put it on, it was way, way easier to manage my... you know. Problem." He ran his tongue over his fang again. Easier. But not easy.

With his eyes on the wristband, Sunshine nodded his head. "Yeah, I guess. Wonder why it's harder for you to ignore me, then." He adjusted the band on his wrist, and then lay back in the sand. Dust kicked up around him, but he didn't seem to care too much. He coughed a little, brushed some of the dust away, which wafted his scent into Noctis' space and made him have to give a solid 'no' to the animal in his mind, but he did.

"So, um... Sunshine..."

Sunshine blinked. "Is that me?" he asked.

Noctis nodded. "I don't know what else to call you. I don't want to call you 'Sixteen.' That _can't_ be your name," he answered.

To that, he looked stunned. "Oh. Um... it isn't. Prompto. Argentum," he finally introduced himself. "But why Sunshine?"

Glancing down at the dust between his knees, Noctis shrugged. "It was either that or Cinnamon," he explained. "That's what you smell like. To me. Cinnamon and sunshine. A friend of mine used to make me these cinnamon custard pastries. We'd go to the park with another friend of ours and eat them while the sun beat down on us. So... cinnamon and sunshine." He laughed at his own expense.

Prompto smiled to himself and nodded. "Better than being told I smell like a turkey dinner like my owner used to tell me. I'm not sure what kind of compliment that is, but it's not one I wanted to get." He smirked a little bit.

"Former owner," Noctis pointed out, which made Prompto grin a little bit. "I was going to ask. How long have you been free?"

Subtly, barely noticably, Prompto shrugged a shoulder. "Not long. I've been running all the way from Niflheim, but it's been about... a week, maybe? I've stopped here and there to rest for a night. Campers and campsites to get a couple hours sleep during the day. But it's been tough. I know that Aldercapt isn't the only one out there looking for me." He glanced away from Noctis, out into the desert. "There's more. The chancellor doesn't like it when his meals escape." He stared up at the open, starry sky. "I wouldn't be surprised if he's after me himself. Probably even has some of his best people looking." Heaving a sigh, he clasped his hands over his chest.

Honestly, though, that made Noctis angrier than anything. "You're not a meal," he insisted, turning his body to face Prompto now. "I mean, I was fighting so hard to keep you from _being_ a meal back there, right? So, don't talk about yourself like that. You're a person. I don't know who this chancellor is, but he sounds like a real asshole." He managed a laugh.

And so did Prompto, which only made Noctis' laugh a little more genuine. "I don't even know his name, honestly. He always made me call him chancellor. Or sir." He shrugged.

Noctis' frown grew deeper. "That's messed up." Which was a tragic and drastic understatement. Everything about this was more than messed up. Like he'd said before, Prompto was a person, not a meal. To be treated like the only thing he was good for was coursing through his veins—as absolutely _decadent_ as it smelled—was sickening.

"Maybe," Prompto replied.

Shaking his head, Noctis allowed himself to lay down in the dirt, too. It kicked up around him, but unlike Prompto, he didn't gasp or cough or wave his hand around. "Not maybe. Definitely." After a few beats of silence, in which a croaking frog made its presence known from a nearby oasis and filled the silence around them, Noctis turned to glance at Prompto who lay a couple of feet away. "So, where were you planning on going from here?" he asked.

Dashing his tongue out to wet his lips, Prompto grunted an "I'unno," in response. "I was thinking Insomnia. The Crown City, maybe. I'd heard from a woman named Sonia in Alstor when I was staying there overnight that there was a curfew in place there and thought that it would be safe. Maybe I could start over there..." He stared up at the stars.

The Crown City. Noctis frowned. "The Crown City's no safer than it is in Leide," he pointed out. "That's where I was when it happened to me." He rubbed his neck where Ardyn's fangs had torn. It didn't hurt, but the two raised bumps caught his attention. Part of him wondered if Ignis had two bite marks from his own fangs. Shaking that thought off, Noctis blinked hard and looked at Prompto. "You're out one second after the sun goes down and you're screwed."

Prompto frowned. "So, there's nowhere that's safe then?" he asked.

Nowhere that's safe. That was a legitimate concern, honestly. Niflheim _definitely_ wasn't safe. Lucis wasn't safe. Insomnia wasn't safe. "Accordo?" he asked.

After a beat, Prompto shrugged. "I was still running pretty hard when I went through Accordo," he admitted. "I don't think I even took time to rest. Stopped at the train, then went straight to the boat to get to Lucis. I think I still felt like I was too close to Niflheim. Do you think it could be safe for me?" He turned to look at Noctis, the tiniest glimmer of hope in his eyes.

"I've never been myself," Noctis admitted. "But I've been spending a lot of time reading documentation on how to, you know... survive. Since I've only been this way for about four days now. Accordo seems... safer. Especially for someone trying to run away. There are people. Lots of them. You could disappear into any crowd you needed to. And I bet there's a readily available Vampire Underground there, so you don't have to worry so much about being attacked at random."

Prompto went quiet for a couple seconds, considering his options and then shrugging. "Definitely seems better than running through Lucis," he agreed. "So... I guess I have to go all the way back across Lucis again. But yeah, I think it is the safest place. Thanks, Noctis." He smiled a genuine half-smile at Noctis.

With that, Prompto pulled himself from laying in the dust to sitting back up. Then, from sitting to standing. He brushed some dust off of his pants and sighed softly. He didn't move right away, just turned and looked at Noctis, who was now just sitting on the ground instead of laying down. "I should probably go back to Hammerhead and find a safe place to crash for the night," he pointed out. "Can't expect you to save my ass every time some hungry psycho vamp decides that it's dinner time. It was, um... it was nice to meet you, Noctis. And thanks." He crouched down, offering his hand out to shake Noctis'.

Noctis eyed his hand for a second, before finally reaching his out and clasping Prompto's. The warmth felt really, really nice. It wasn't like Noctis really noticed the cold anymore, but he _did_ notice when it was warm. And Prompto's hand, as much as the color contrasted the paleness in Noctis', was pleasantly warm. He was loath to let go, but eventually he did.

"Be careful, okay?" Noctis told Prompto. "With all those people you said were out to get you, you're... you're not exactly safe on your own."

Prompto glanced down at the ground for a second, before flashing Noctis an attempt at a confident smile when he looked back up. "I'm sure I'll... I'll be fine," he replied. He didn't sound sure, though. He sounded scared. And with perfectly good reason, too.

As Prompto turned to walk away, an internal debate started forming in Noctis' mind. Prompto was by himself, in a world full of hungry vampires. He smelled like heaven on earth, and he'd spent so much of his life victimized by greedy and hungry vampires that... it wasn't fair. It really wasn't fair for him to be alone like this. In the corner of his mind, Noctis pondered, maybe, asking Prompto if he wanted to come with him and the others. He still didn't know what their game plan was or anything, but they could at least get Prompto to Accordo in one piece, where he could actually live a safe life.

But was Prompto really safer with him? The cinnamon sunshine smell of the blood coursing through his veins had already proven too much for Noctis to handle once before. And what about Ignis? Would Prompto smell irresistible to Ignis, too? Asking Prompto to travel with them was like taking him out of a spider web and putting him into a viper's nest.

It all came down, really, to which way would get Prompto to Accordo safer. And with all of these imperial bastards after him, there was no way he was safer out and about in Lucis. Noctis wasn't sure why, but the whole situation with Prompto being on the run, alone and scared, used as some plaything was just _infuriating_. Okay, no. He was sure why. Because Prompto was a person and no one deserved to be treated like that. But could he say that if it was any other person, he'd feel this furious protective instinct? Well, he wasn't sure, honestly, because he'd never been in this position before. But he was sure of one thing.

Prompto wasn't going to suffer at the mouths of greedy vampires anymore.

"Prompto!" Noctis called out, pushing himself quickly to his feet. "Hang on!"

From about a hundred and fifty feet away, Prompto turned around and looked at Noctis, the light from his shirt flashlight illuminating the surprise on his face. "Huh?" he asked. "What's up?" He stopped moving and allowed Noctis to close the distance between them.

Jogging, not sprinting because he didn't want to scare Prompto any more than he'd probably been that night, he came to a stop at Prompto's side. "You don't have to go to Accordo alone, you know?" he suggested. "I'm traveling with a couple of friends. One's a werewolf, another's a vampire like me. I don't know if... if you'd want to or anything. But we could help you. Get you to Accordo, I mean. It's the least I can do for attacking you back there." He pointed with his thumb over his shoulder to where Noctis had pummeled him.

Prompto looked stunned. "Wait, really?" he asked, blinking. "Why me?"

To that, Noctis balked. "You know, I don't really know," he admitted. "But I just... no one deserves to be treated as someone else's meal, rather than a person. And if taking you to Accordo will keep you from being someone else's meal, even a little bit? Then I feel like I should do it." He shrugged and rubbed at the back of his neck, embarrassed. "I don't know when we're going to get to Accordo. It might be a little while. But I think you'd be safer with us than on your own."

The responding smile that Prompto gave was sheepish, but he reached out and touched Noctis' bicep softly. "I knew you were a good person," he whispered. "Yeah. Sure, I'll go with you guys. Thanks, Noctis." He dropped his hand, let it hang and his side, and nodded.


	6. Chapter 6

Maybe he should have asked Ignis and Gladio before suggesting that they chaperone Prompto to Accordo. Maybe he should have considered his lifelong friends' plights. But he couldn't help it. And he was pleasantly surprised when he escorted Prompto from the desert to the Regalia, and from the Regalia to the campsite, that his friends were far more receptive to the idea than he'd expected. And Ignis, much to Noctis' _extreme_ surprise, barely seemed affected by Prompto's blood. He was affected, sure, but no more than he would have been by any random stranger passing by.

"It smells sweet," Ignis explained, as Prompto settled down in one of the camp chairs. "But to me, it's just like anyone in town."

Prompto glanced at his wristband. "That's probably because of this," he explained, displaying it to Ignis. "A couple of the higher ups in the Niflheim army manufacture them. Scent depressors. I'm not sure how they work, but they're standard issue for everyone in the breeding program." He lowered his hand again and adjusted the band on his wrist.

That caught Gladio's attention, and he arched an eyebrow. "Breeding program?" he asked.

Clearing his throat, Prompto shrugged and glanced down at the ground. "Yeah. Human breeding." He glanced up to three looks of varying horror. He'd mentioned it in passing to Noctis when they sat in the dirt together, but Noctis hadn't really put as much thought into it then as he was now. "They were trying to make the perfect bloodline. One that was irresistible to all of their people. And they'd just make those people breed and breed more and..." Abruptly, Prompto stopped talking, blinking hard.

"You don't have to say anymore," Noctis insisted.

Gladio nodded. "Can't believe they'd do that to people," he seethed.

Though he looked equally unimpressed, Ignis said, "I can." He glanced Prompto apologetically and shrugged. "The people of Niflheim, as long as history shows, have never been terribly kind. Even back before vampirism was a problem, they were incredibly militaristic in their treatment of their citizens. People were assets. They razed cities to the ground to rebuild and control. Breeding and enslaving humans isn't out of the realm of possibility at all. Monstrous, absolutely. But not out of their repertoire."

Prompto was staring at the ground again. This had to be hard for him to talk about, but he was doing it with a brave face. Against the firelight, some of the fresher bite marks on his neck showed their depth. Whoever this chancellor was, he was merciless. Noctis found his eyes trailing down Prompto's neck to his shoulders. Scars still littered his skin mercilessly. Where there should have been freckles, there were angry raised white bumps. Fury coursed through Noctis' body like a lightning bolt. Never before had he hated someone he'd never met.

When Prompto turned to catch him staring, Noctis was glad that he was incapable of blushing, because he probably would have. Instead, he turned to glance at his hands as he tapped his index fingertips together. He didn't mean to keep staring, and the fact that every time he stared, Prompto seemed to catch him was more than a little bit embarrassing. But there was something about him. He'd been through a lot. A _hell_ of a lot, honestly. But he was still facing it bravely. He'd gotten away from a place that most people don't see the other side of, and while a part of Noctis wondered how he'd managed to do it, Prompto had been forced to relive too many bad memories already that night.

"So, what's the game plan from here?" Gladio asked. "We could take Prompto straight to Galdin Quay to see if the ferry is running, get him to Accordo right now."

Prompto shook his head no. "I've already been there. I tried to see if I could get a job at the restaurant, but they said that because the ferry was down, there were people stuck on this side of the ocean until they get it fixed and they didn't have any jobs available." He yawned, and Noctis found himself wondering when the last time he'd gotten a full night's sleep was.

Ignis, too, took note of the yawn. "Besides, if there are people looking for Prompto, going out from a major ferry port could just end him up in a mess of trouble," he explained. "Ports and train stations are likely the first place that the empire would check." He turned to glance at Prompto.

Turning to glance at Prompto, Noctis asked, "what do _you_ want to do?"

That question seemed to take Prompto off-guard, the fact of which made another surge of anger flare up in the back of Noctis' mind. With how much of his life he'd spent as someone else's meal, how few times had he been asked that question? Had he _ever_? At the very least, he had to have asked himself when he escaped and ran... but had anyone else ever asked him? Bright blue eyes blinked at Noctis, as though he didn't know exactly what to say at first. Shortly after that though, he let his head fall backward and glanced up at the night sky.

He laughed a halfhearted note and wet his lips. "I never really thought about it, honestly. Beyond getting to the Crown City and trying to find a safe place to hide, I haven't really had a chance to think that far ahead," he explained. Turning to glance back at Noctis again, he asked, "what about you guys? Where are you going? Maybe... maybe I'll tag along with you until the search for me dies down." His tone was nervous, uncertain.

Noctis laughed a humorless note as well. "I don't think we even have a plan, honestly," he pointed out. "Me and Specs were gonna head to Lestallum, since they have the best Underground in Lucis. Takka mentioned that there's a bunch of stuff we might want to look into there." He shrugged and glanced to Ignis and Gladio.

"I'd be okay with going to Lestallum," Gladio agreed. "Pretty sure there's a couple good caves outside of town for me to hide out in when the full moon comes around, so maybe we could even stay there for awhile?"

Reaching his hand down to the small travel bag that he kept all of the documentation in, Ignis pulled a notebook out and flipped through it. "There's an extensive blood bank. Pouches from all blood types, which evidently makes them taste slightly different. And they actually have a long line of donors once every two months to replenish their supply. There's an apartment building that's made with metal shutters behind the windows to completely block out sunlight during the day, for those without light rings." He paused and turned to look at Gladio. "They've also got a facility for werewolves at full moons, so you don't have to go to a cave. The walls are concrete and too thick for even the strongest were to break." He flipped the page, glancing back down to the notebook. "And a silver clinic, for weres poisoned by silver."

Prompto hummed thoughtfully. "Sounds almost like a supernatural haven," he mused.

Glancing around at the other three, Noctis shrugged a shoulder. "How many humans live there?" he asked.

He wasn't sure where this instinct to protect this human that he had _literally just met_ came from, but he wanted to be sure that they weren't just dragging Prompto into a place filled with supernatural creatures. He'd been in a place filled with supernatural creatures before, granted Noctis had only ever really heard about the vampires.

"Well," Ignis started, "there's clearly enough to refill a blood bank every couple of months, right? So depending on how big this blood bank is, I would say that it's a reasonable amount."

Noctis nodded his head and shrugged his shoulders. "Any objections to going to Lestallum for a little while?" he asked.

No one objected. In fact, everyone just nodded their agreement. A town where supernatural creatures and humans coexisted peacefully. It wasn't Accordo, it wasn't Altissia, but it was somewhere for them to lay low while the hunt for Prompto waged on. He turned to glance at Prompto, who looked more than exhausted. They could have left right then. Maybe they should have. But two of the four of them still needed to sleep. Noctis looked over at Ignis. "Do you, um... do you still think you can cook?" he asked.

Scratching a hand through his hair, Ignis chuckled. "I can't imagine why not. We can still smell food, and we can still taste. We can't digest, but if I just give quick tastes I can still cook meals for these two." He paused. "If that's where you were going."

Noctis nodded. "It was," he admitted.

"When was the last time you ate, Prompto?" Ignis asked.

Prompto blinked a couple of times. "Um... I bought a huge sandwich with some of the money I made doing odd jobs at a chocobo ranch." He shrugged, his face a little sheepish. It didn't look like he wanted to answer the question.

But he didn't have to, it seemed. Gladio got to his feet and announced, "I've gathered some meat and veggies, 'cause I was kinda planning to stay here long haul before you guys found me. I've got it in my cooler. I would _not_ say no to some rare anak meat, honestly. Should be enough for both of us." He walked over and grabbed his cooler, pulling it open and beckoning for Ignis.

A pang of bitterness rose in Noctis' chest. Ignis' cooking had always been one of his favorite things. And Ignis himself had always loved _doing_ it. "I'm gonna miss your rice bowls, Specs," he commented, chuckling humorlessly.

"Indeed," Ignis murmured, as he rummaged through Gladio's cooler. "Shame I never got that cinnamon custard pastry right, either."

The pastry. Noctis chuckled. The pastry that Prompto's scent reminded him of. Truth be told, Ignis _had_ gotten it right. He'd gotten it right a long, _long_ time ago. But Noctis had never wanted to admit it. If he admitted it, if he told Ignis how perfect it was, maybe his friend would stop making it; consider the whole endeavor a success and just stop trying completely.

Sheepishly, Noctis glanced at the ground, then back up to Ignis with a little chuckle. "You did," he confessed. It was easy to do now that it didn't matter.

Ignis smirked. "I was wondering if you were ever going to admit it," he teased Noctis, before turning back to his task.

Laughing, Noctis glanced at his hands. Ignis knew. Of _course_ , Ignis knew. He'd always been terrible at hiding secrets from both Gladio _and_ Ignis... but mostly Ignis. It made him wonder, too, how long it would be before he burst at the seems and told Gladio the truth about how Ignis was turned. Gladio wouldn't take it well. He'd go off, Noctis was sure of it. Usually, when Gladio went off, Noctis had a thousand huffs and indignant looks for his friend. But this time, in this instance, he probably wouldn't be able to come up with anything. Lying about it, lying about being the reason that Ignis was _dead_... it was hard. He put his head in his hands and, not for the first time, pondered just blurting it out so that they could get the inevitable fight over with.

"Hey, you okay, Noctis?" Prompto asked from his camping chair.

Noctis turned his head and glanced at Prompto in surprise. "Huh? Oh. Y-yeah, I'm alright. Just thinking." He turned his attention to Ignis and Gladio, who were mumbling to each other and laughing softly.

Prompto hummed a note. "So, how long have you guys known each other, anyway?" he asked. "You've been friends for a long time, I can tell." He slid down from his camping chair, sitting on the ground next to Noctis.

Embarrassingly, Noctis noticed his scent getting closer before his physical presence. In disgust with himself, he turned his head away from Prompto and fought back the instinct to tell his new friend to keep his distance. If Prompto wanted to sit on the ground, he could. He'd spent too much of his life being told what to do and what not to do, and Noctis wasn't going to become like those Niflheim vampires; using Prompto and telling him what to do all over the place. Noctis would just have to control himself, he decided. As difficult as it was.

Finally, he answered Prompto's question. "I've known them since I was a kid," he explained. "My oldest friends." And now, really, his only ones. Everyone in the Crown City that he'd called friends before would think he was dead. There was no way that his father could ever admit that he turned. The backlash would be insane. "Gladio's kind of like my bodyguard. Ignis is like my strategist." He paused. "Was. Were. Guess they're not really my royal guard anymore."

"I mean, you probably don't _need_ a royal guard, honestly. Anyone tries to mess with you, you could probably take them down yourself." Prompto smirked softly.

Noctis managed a laugh. "I did kind of hold my own against that Aldercapt guy earlier, didn't I?" he mused.

Prompto nodded eagerly. "More than kind of!" he insisted. "You saved my life. He'd been chasing me all the way from Hammerhead and I was about at the end of my rope. Felt like I was gonna collapse at any second. But right before I did, all of a sudden there you are." He smiled a smile that one generally doesn't give someone who tried to kill them mere hours ago, and Noctis wondered if maybe he'd hit his head hard enough to forget what had happened afterward.

But that was okay, because Noctis would remind him. "Yeah, then tried to kill you right afterward," he spoke under his breath, a frown lining his features.

Shrugging, Prompto said, "that wasn't your fault. It's like I said earlier. I was, you know... made specifically to be hard for vampires to resist." He pointed at the wristband and sighed. "Without this, it's like... if there are any vampires around and I don't have it on, it's trouble."

"Don't lose it," Noctis told him, his voice soft but serious. Pleading, almost.

Prompto shook his head. "I won't," he answered.

After a few minutes, Ignis turned around and brought a plate full of grilled anak with fresh vegetables across the campsite, stopping in front of Prompto with a smile. Prompto's eyes were as wide as saucers, and he turned the plate a couple of times, almost as though he'd never seen that much food in his life. He picked up the fork and ate. Across the camp, too, Gladio was devouring his own meal in a similar manner. But with Prompto... he ate so fast that it was almost like he wasn't breathing between bites. He was. Noctis could hear the breath and could see his chest rising and falling. But it looked like he had never eaten a meal that large before.

Noctis watched as he downed a half a bottle of water to wash it down, smiling softly. Ignis wouldn't mind cooking for the others, he was sure of it. And within minutes after finishing his meal, Prompto yawned another yawn, his eyes half-lidded already. Ignis had to suggest that he go to bed before he actually moved from the ground, and once again, Noctis found himself wondering about the circumstances that he'd lived in before. What was he fed? Did he have to ask permission to go to sleep? In the back corner of his mind, he thought about Aldercapt. The emperor had very nonchalantly used the term 'belonged.' Slavery. Using humans as nothing but a food source.

Noctis found himself silently vowing in that moment never, _ever_ to do that again.

His eyes moved across the camp, to where Ignis was cleaning up after Prompto and Gladio's meal. Getting into their cooler, Noctis pulled a pair of pouches from inside and brought one over to Ignis. "Take a break," he told his friend.

"As though I have to," Ignis half-laughed, but in spite of that, he still stopped.

As he moved to the camp chair that Prompto had been sitting in before, he lowered himself into it with a heavy exhale. "First day outside of Insomnia, and not only do we find Gladio, but we bring in someone else, too." He smiled softly, his eyes wandering over to the dark tent. Gladio and Prompto were both snorers. That was amusing.

Ignis gathered a pair of coffee cups and brought them over to the camp chairs. "I'm glad, though. I was... I was quite concerned that I'd never see him again."

Half-smiling, Noctis shrugged. "But you did. Didn't take nearly as long as you thought to find him, either." 

That gave Noctis pause, too. The main reason that Ignis had been okay with what happened back at his apartment was because it afforded him the chance to look for Gladio forever if he had to. Now, they'd left and found him right away. So, did that mean that he wasn't okay with it anymore? 

Passing a coffee cup over to Noctis, Ignis called his attention. "You have a thousand yard stare, Noct," he commented.

"Oh," Noctis chuckled, accepting the cup and looking it over for a second. "What's the cup for?"

Ignis smirked. "Most people drink from it," he snarked.

The glare that Noctis shot his friend could have pierced through a mountain if it needed to. "Wow, Ignis. Thanks for the lesson," he mused, setting the cup between his knees. "I mean, why do _we_ need it? It's not like we need to-"

But Ignis cut him off. "If I'm going to be drinking blood, I'm going to drink it out of a cup if I have the option." He used a fang to poke a small hole in the pouch, then filled his cup. There was more blood than there was cup, but Ignis set the remainder on the arm of the chair for now and took a sip from the cup instead. "So, what was on your mind?" he asked when he was finished drinking.

With a chuckle, Noctis glanced at the cup before following suit. Maybe this way it would be easier to pretend that it _was_ coffee. But as he did that, he answered Ignis' question. "I was just wondering," he started, "if you were still okay with things happening the way they did." He didn't say anything else, in fear of Gladio waking up and hearing.

Ignis sighed. "Noct..."

But Noct shook his head. "No. No, listen. You were only so okay with things going the way they went because you wanted to look for Gladio. And now look. We found Gladio. You don't have to search for him day and night anymore. And you-"

Clearing his throat, Ignis stopped Noctis in his tracks. " _And_ I get to spend much, much longer with him now than I would have as a human," he pointed out. "The smell is decadent. It's hard to ignore. But I'll learn. I've already learned quite well. Once I learn to control my impulses, I will probably want to _thank_ you. So please, Noct. Stop beating yourself up. I don't blame you. So, don't you blame you either." He shook his head.

It was easier to say than to do, but Noctis simply nodded his head.

Ignis, with a ponderous expression, took another sip from his mug. Before another self-blaming thought could form in Noctis' mind, he was speaking up again. "I'm amazed, though, that Prompto is as willing as he is to trust us." He glanced back over to the tent again. "The man hasn't exactly had the best experience with vampires, and yet he's so willing to put his trust in more, who also happen to be complete strangers."

Noctis nodded. "I think he's lonely," he pointed out, taking a drink from his own mug. "And who could blame him? He's spent his whole life used. Did you see all the bite marks on his neck and shoulders?" It was burned on Noctis' mind's eye.

A somber expression crossed Ignis face, and he nodded his answer. "It was hard to miss them," he verbalized.

"It's not going to happen again." Noctis' voice was low and serious. He didn't care if he had to fight off emperors or chancellors or whoever. Prompto wouldn't have to go back there. He wouldn't be some imperial blood slave anymore.

Ignis placed a hand on Noctis' shoulder. "You're quite concerned for him," he pointed out, his somber expression fading into the tiniest of amused smiles.

Turning his head to glance at Ignis, Noctis shrugged a shoulder. "I'd be concerned for anyone who's been through what he's been through. Wouldn't you?" He didn't mirror Ignis' smile. It wasn't a smiling matter. Prompto didn't deserve what had happened to him, and if it was the last thing that Noctis did in his unlife, he would ensure that Prompto got safely to Accordo.

Chuckling, Ignis glanced at his own coffee mug. "I suppose so, yes." The tiny smile was still in place.

Noctis huffed out a breath and looked up at the clear night sky. The sky looked different without obstructions than it did from behind the wall of the Crown City. The stars sparkled a bit brighter, and it was far, far wider than Noctis had ever noticed it to be before. He wondered how much world there was, even beyond Accordo and Niflheim. The world was vast. And now, since he had much, much more time and he wasn't locked up in the Crown City, maybe he could see more of it.

But first, he had a job to do.


	7. Chapter 7

With Gladio with them again, Noctis had once again been relegated to the backseat of the car. That was okay, though. Prompto sat beside him, his arms stretched up over his head, enjoying the breeze that whipped around the Regalia with its top down. The way he smiled, the way he seemed so happy about _everything_ around them, made Noctis smile in turn. It was amusing, too, because he'd just recently passed all of this when he was crossing Lucis to escape the imperials. But with every new thing they passed, every new landmark they found, it was almost like he was a kid in a candy store. Which was fine, honestly, because Noctis himself hadn't seen any of it before either.

None of them had. So, it was almost like Prompto's excitement was guaranteeing that the rest of them got a chance to see everything as they drove by. Otherwise, they'd probably have been so focused on getting from point A to point B that they'd miss all the magic of the trip.

"Noct! Look!" Prompto announced. Over the past couple of days, he'd noticed that Prompto had dropped the 'is' from his name, a thing that only of his closest friends tended to do. He'd probably heard Gladio and Ignis doing it, picked up on that. Normally, he wasn't fond of new people using nicknames before he really got to know them. But with Prompto, he didn't mind.

Noctis turned and looked at in the direction Prompto was looking, to see a waterfall cascading into a small pond. He'd seen rivers before, but really only over the walls of the Crown City, from far away. From up close, the water glistened and twinkled on the way down, and the sun reflected in ripples off of the pond that had pooled at the bottom. He turned to look back at Prompto, who was on his feet in the car, trying in vain to get a closer look at the water down below. His excitement, mixed with the fact that Noctis was kind of curious himself, had him glancing around Prompto to catch Ignis' eyes in the rear view mirror.

He half-smiled. "What do you say, Specs? Think we've got time for a little pit stop?" he asked.

Ignis and Gladio exchanged looks and smiles, and Ignis shrugged his lip and one of his shoulders. "We might as well," he mused. "We're a little ways away from Lestallum, anyway. I see a campsite right there, so we can make camp for the night and use the water to bathe in." He pulled the car to the side of the road, cutting the engine and pocketing the keys.

When they stepped out of the car, however, Ignis was the first to take notice of the fact that the parking spot they'd selected wasn't nearby any stairs that led down to the ground... which stood about fifty feet below. Ignis and Gladio smirked at each other, and Gladio turned to look at Noctis, declaring, "you can walk Prompto to the stairs over there, Noct." He pointed back in the direction they'd come from.

"They're about a hundred yards back," Ignis told him.

And with that, Gladio leaped over the guardrail. He landed with a loud thud, then turned around, glancing up at Ignis and waving him down. "Woo!" he shouted into the woods around him. "That was _incredible_! Iggy, you've gotta try it!" He waved his arms over his head, nodding eagerly at his boyfriend.

Ignis, chuckling fondly, nodded his eager reply. He dropped the backpack full of towels and clothes, and the cooler down to Gladio, then backed up a few steps, taking his own soft leap over the guardrail. Noctis watched as he landed crouched with one hand between his legs on the ground, then stood with a big grin on his face. He turned to Gladio, who handed him one of the bags, and then with a wave over their shoulders, the pair of them took off toward the waterfront.

Prompto was endlessly amused. "Whoa!" he declared, turning toward Noctis. "That was _awesome_!" His hands were on the guardrail, and he leaned over it, excitedly watching as Gladio and Ignis disappeared into the trees.

With a smile that spread across his whole face, Noctis nodded his agreement. "It was pretty awesome." He leaned sideways against the guardrail. "C'mon, Sunshine. Let's get down there." He pointed back toward the stairs.

Now, Prompto's eyes were on Noctis. "Still calling me Sunshine, huh?" he asked, his mouth forming into the tiniest grin. Before Noctis could answer, he continued speaking. "You know, it'd be pretty cool to see you do that. Fly over the edge, I mean?" He put his hands into his pockets and took a couple of steps toward the stairway.

Noctis, though, didn't move right away. He stepped toward Prompto and reached out, placing a hand on his arm. The warmth, as well as the hyper-awareness of the blood rushing beneath Prompto's skin, took him off guard. But he kept the animal suppressed, instead smiling at the feeling of warmth against his flesh. He didn't feel cold, no. But nothing felt warm like this anymore. Not even the sun, really. Once he was sure Prompto was paying attention, he dropped his arm to the side and half-smiled.

"So," Noctis suggested, peering over the edge. "How would you like to jump _with_ me?"

Wide-eyed, Prompto walked back over to the edge and peered over again. "With you..." he murmured. He turned around and looked back at Noctis. "Yeah. Yeah, I want to jump with you. How?" His whole body was turned toward Noctis now, and excitement lined his eyes.

Placing one hand on his own shoulder, Noctis his back to Prompto and said, "on my back. I'll carry you like a backpack and just jump a little more carefully than Specs and Gladio did. If you trust me, I mean." It was completely reasonable if he didn't, of course. It wasn't like Noctis had given him too many reasons to trust.

But, much to his surprise, Prompto nodded eagerly and stepped forward. "I trust you," he answered, placing a hand on each of Noctis' shoulders from behind.

A little smile came to Noctis' face unbidden, and he told Prompto to "jump up." When the blond did, Noctis caught his legs in each arm. "Hold around my neck. As tight as you need to," he added. An added benefit of not having to breathe, he supposed, was that situations like that didn't bother him at all.

With Prompto's arms around his neck, and his legs held securely in Noctis' arms, he moved back a couple of steps to get a slight running start and then leaped over the edge. Prompto yelped in surprise as they went up into the air, but as they fell, he let out an excited laugh. He clung as tightly as he could to Noctis, who landed on the ground with absolutely no struggle. No pain. No adverse effects whatsoever. And it was exactly as fun as it looked. If Noctis had adrenaline, it would've been pumping right now. So, he could only imagine how Prompto was feeling.

Actually, he didn't have to imagine, because in that instant, the scent from his friend's veins was overpowering. Warm, heavy breath hit the back of his neck where Prompto's face was buried, and he could feel Prompto's heart hammering hard against his back. He laughed a breathy laugh as he unburied his head from Noctis' shoulder.

"That-" Prompto breathed- "was _amazing_!" He looked at Noctis, with his arms draped loosely around his shoulders.

Noctis turned his head, coming face to face with Prompto. The two exchanged a grin. Being face to face like that, with the warmth of Prompto's breath brushing against his cheek ever so slightly, was dangerous for a multitude of reasons. Not only was the _smell_ intoxicating, but the feeling—the warmth of his skin and the beating of his heart on Noctis' back—was intoxicating, too. It was dangerous. And it had to stop before it was too late. At least, he knew that in his brain. But as smart as that was, logically, his heart—unbeating though it was—wouldn't let him.

Rather than do the smart thing and let him down, though, Noctis turned his head back forward to the shoreline in the distance. Turning back to Prompto, he asked, "do you want me to run you to the beach?"

Prompto smirked and nodded. "My legs are kind of jelly," he chuckled softly.

When Prompto's chuckling breath hit Noctis' ear, he had to make a conscious effort not to notice it. _Maybe putting a little wind in the air would blow the scent away,_ he thought, as he took off toward the shoreline. It was a straight shot, and they got there relatively quickly, without too much incident. When they arrived, Gladio and Ignis were already down to their underwear in the water. Gladio swam laps around Ignis, who was rinsing his hair off in the water. Prompto laughed as Noctis crouched down to let him to the ground. It was marginally easier to focus without the throbbing heartbeat against his back. Marginally.

Except it didn't help that they were just... standing there. Swimming and bathing in the river had _seemed_ like a good idea... until the time came to actually do it. Noctis was a little bit anxious about disrobing, especially in front of Prompto. Before, Noctis knew that he'd looked okay. He'd been a little pale and pretty much all limb, but enough women and men had found him attractive that he had never really been nervous about things like swimming. Right now, though, he was _incredibly_ nervous. Up until now, Prompto had managed to see the humanity in him. If he saw the monster, he never gave any indication.

But Noctis knew. Because he'd seen himself naked since he'd been bitten. He was pale as a sheet. Ghastly. And it wasn't like it was in all of those vampire novels, where vampires suddenly got ten times more attractive. Other than being white as a sheet and occasionally having red eyes... Noctis still looked the same. Ignis still looked the same, too, but at least he'd looked better before.

Swallowing nervously, Noctis turned to glance at Prompto. Prompto, too, looked like he was nervous to undress. It made sense, but didn't. Noctis had been caught no fewer than twenty times staring at Prompto's bite scars. While he found himself curious as to what scars lie where he couldn't see... he also didn't want to know. He didn't want to stare more than he already had; to make Prompto more uncomfortable than he already had. Even as he thought that though, he found himself staring at Prompto; taking in the marks on his neck and shoulders and arms. He snapped his head back forward before he was caught again and have himself a mental slap. Even with all the marred flesh, Prompto was really attractive. It was unfair that he was as self-conscious as he was.

So, in that moment, Noctis made a decision. If he expected Prompto to feel comfortable in his skin, Noctis had to do the same, as difficult as it was.

With a breath inward, Noctis tugged his shirt up and over his shoulders and tossed it toward where the towels and blood cooler were. Ignis' clothes were neatly folded, and Gladio's were piled up... but Noctis' just fell wherever they fell, until he stood there in his black plaid boxer shorts. His shirt was in the grass, his pants stayed in the sand, and his boots were kicked off. One landed beside a tree and the other by the camp site. His hand found his light ring, and he fiddled with it self-consciously, before turning to Prompto with an unsure smile.

"Looks like you're the rotten egg," Noctis announced to his friend.

Prompto raised an eyebrow. "Huh?" he asked, blinking twice.

Chuckling, Noctis continued. "The rotten egg. Last one in's a rotten egg, so... looks like it's you." He smirked, pointing at Prompto and shrugging his head like there was nothing to be done about it.

The protest that left Prompto's lips was a simple scoff, but it was endlessly entertaining. Prompto shook his head no and immediately pulled his shirt up over his head. "That's not fair! You've got to declare that _before_ you start... you know, undressing!"

It took a conscious effort for Noctis not to stare at Prompto as one by one, his clothing came off. Not just because of the scars this time, either. He didn't allow himself to stare, no, but that didn't stop him from eyeing and taking in every bit of new skin as it was revealed to him. Were his heart beating, it would have stuttered. He was _beautiful_. Noctis was _endlessly_ glad that he couldn't blush, because if he could have, he would be right now. The effort to keep any _other_ physical indication of how taken aback he was by Prompto's beauty... was not small. And he was pretty sure he would have failed, had Prompto not spoken up and distracted him.

"I may be an egg," Prompto called out as he ran toward the water line, "but I'm not rotten!" He dove into the water and the sound of the splash shook Noctis from his stupor.

Noctis managed to laugh at that, maybe partially at his own expense, as he hurried to the shoreline. The water was cold, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Except, Prompto was announcing with a loud shout and a shiver how freezing it was. Another advantage to being dead, Noctis had to figure. But, he took his title of rotten egg and finally jumped into the water to join his friends. It was nice, swimming with infinite stamina, and without the need to breathe. They stayed in the water, eventually bathing, and then swimming again until Prompto got tired. Then they each took their turn—Gladio and Ignis, however, went together—going behind the bushes and changing into new clothes.

It wasn't until they settled down to camp for the night, the sun long-descended into the horizon, that the trouble started.

Prompto and Gladio ate—burgers this time; Gladio's rare and Prompto's medium—and Ignis went over the game plan for when they got to Lestallum. Ignis spoke of seeking out lodgings, but Noctis was only paying half-attention. Something caught his ear in the distance. It was a slight shift of the branches down by the river bank, but Noctis heard it as clear as day. Shortly following the rustling came a voice. A whisper that Noctis probably wasn't supposed to hear. _"Surround the camp,"_ the man's voice said. _"There's three of 'em and they have a human. Try not to get the human."_

Ignis stopped mid-sentence, and Prompto looked at him in question. He was about to ask what the problem was, but Ignis held his hand up to stop the question before it started.

"Hide," Noctis told Prompto. They weren't after him, anyway. "Hide in the tent."

Blinking in stunned silence, Prompto nodded and obeyed, hurrying for the tent and crawling in. When he was sure that Prompto was hidden, Noctis summoned his sword. Ignis and Gladio, too, took the cue. Ignis' daggers were out, Gladio's sword was out, and the three of them waited for whoever it was to make a move.

Noctis heard the twang of the crossbow before he saw the bolt. Ignis moved to the side quickly, easily evading the shot and sending it to the other side of the camp and into a tree with a loud _THUNK_. Squinting into the darkness, Noctis could barely make one of them out. A man dressed in all black, with nothing but a small patch of skin free. But he could smell them clearly. There were five different scents. All human. All closing in.

The second attack came for Gladio; a man with a silver sword lunged at him, but Gladio blocked with his sword, sending him sailing backward with a scream, into the darkness again. Noctis barely had time to recover from that before the man in front of him lunged his way, aiming a wooden stake straight for his chest. Noctis deflected the attack with his sword... but not without catching the man in the arm and sending blood dripping down. The scent hit his nostrils and almost _instantly_ , the animal took over again. Noctis warped, catching the man as he went and pinning him to the tree by his collarbone. Baring his fangs, he hissed in the man's face in threat.

"H-help!" the man called to his comrades.

A sword hit Noctis in the back without breaking the skin, but it was enough to attract Noctis' attention long enough for the man beneath him to push back. Noctis stumbled into another of the attackers, sending him to the ground and sending his pistol skittering from his hand to the ground.

Distracted by the melee, Noctis barely noticed the first attacker with the wooden stake when he charged into Noctis with his shoulder and knocked him to the ground. He stood over Noctis, glaring in disgust and declaring him a "monster," and "a despicable creature who fed off of that blond so much that he's covered in bite scars." 

Maybe Noctis could have moved. But the thought that he _could_ have been the reason that Prompto was covered with bite scars like that was terrifying to him. For a second, he'd had himself fooled into thinking that he was controlling himself well, but this man bled just a little bit... and all of a sudden that voice took over. Disgusting and despicable. It froze him in place, his eyes on the man's wooden stake as he displayed it like a threat. A monster. Yeah, he _was_ a monster. Especially since in the back corner of his mind, he _still_ wanted to drink this man's blood. Every last drop. Tears formed in Noctis' eyes, but he still didn't move.

The man asked, "what, no fight left in you?"

When Noctis didn't answer, the man raised the stake into the air. But before he could move to lower it, the deafening sound of a gunshot rang out into the air around them. All fighting around them stopped, humans and non-humans alike froze in position, birds flew from the trees around them... everything was silent. The scent of the man's blood was stronger now, as it came pouring from his chest, dripping onto Noctis' shirt. The animal told him to take advantage, but the human's confusion and self-loathing was too strong to obey at this point. The man fell onto Noctis, who immediately pushed him off and whirled around to find out who had fired.

Much to Noctis' complete surprise, _Prompto_ held the gun in his hands, staring at the man's corpse on the ground.


	8. Chapter 8

The dust had settled, but all four of them were still stunned into silence. After Prompto had fired on their leader, the group had scrambled and gathered their leader's body up, hurrying back into the shadows and away from the campsite. As they ran, they shouted things about Prompto being crazy and having Stockholm Syndrome. Noctis was still processing. His mind felt like it was spinning in his head, and he couldn't settle on any one thought for long. The hunter was going to kill him. He should have been dead, or dust, or whatever happened to vampires when they got staked in the heart.

But Prompto had saved his life. Or unlife. Whatever.

Gladio paced the camp, complaining angrily about 'stupid bastard hunters who like to attack before they think and believe everything they hear,' while Ignis held the crossbow that one of the hunters had left behind in his hands. He examined it meticulously, as well as the thin wooden bolts, and shook his head in disbelief. He turned to Gladio.

"They don't understand the situation," Ignis explained, standing up and crossing the camp. "What would you think if you weren't with us? Two vampires and a werewolf, with a human who's covered in bite marks... it doesn't look good." He turned his eyes apologetically to Prompto, who just shrugged a shoulder and glanced over at Noctis.

Noctis looked away in shame. He still felt like the lowest monster to ever exist. Yes, they'd been attacked. But even when he'd been trying to protect Prompto, he'd still been unable to silence the animal in his head; unable to keep it from lunging and attacking and nearly killing that hunter. What must Prompto have thought of him? How much of it had he seen? Noctis blinked, wiping some of the dried blood tears from below his eyes. Maybe all of this was a mistake. Maybe he shouldn't have invited Prompto to come along. Maybe Prompto _was_ safer without them. He turned his eyes back to look when Ignis arrived in front of Prompto.

Ignis passed the crossbow to Prompto and said, "fire this. Stand up, walk over and fire it at a tree. I want to see how accurate you are with it."

Prompto nodded and stood, taking the crossbow in his hand and looking it over. He examined it, testing its weight in his hand, before raising it and loading it with one of the bolts. He aimed it, steadying one arm with the other, and fired right at the tree where the bolt that the hunter had shot landed. This shot landed right next to the first one, mere inches away. He loaded another and fired again, this time landing even _closer_ above the first shot. He reloaded again, took aim, and _this_ time, the third arrow split the first arrow that the hunter had shot, straight down the center.

It was safe to say that Prompto was a good shot.

With a nod and a hand on Prompto's shoulder, Ignis smiled weakly. "Keep that. And the pistol. Just in case," he told Prompto, lightly squeezing the man's shoulder before turning to approach Gladio again.

Noctis looked at Prompto from where he sat, and nodded his head. "Yeah. And don't be afraid to use it, okay? On anyone." The words were heavy and serious, but they left no room to question what Noctis meant. If he ever proved himself to be a danger to Prompto, he wanted Prompto to use the crossbow on him.

"The hell is that kinda talk, Noct?" Gladio asked through a mouthful of food. He shot Noctis a glare from across the camp, where he'd just finished the last bit of his burger. He was using the fries, now, to mop up the last of the juice that had leaked from the rare meat. "Thought you were plannin' to see Prompto to Accordo. Can't do that if he puts an arrow in your heart."

In a huff, Noctis looked at Gladio. He didn't know. He didn't know the temptation. He wasn't almost brought to his knees every time the scent of blood—let alone _Prompto's_ blood—hit his nostrils. It wasn't like _he'd_ been fighting with the instinct to kill that hunter. Gladio had always been more of an 'incapacitate, not kill' type of person. Probably even more so now that he had all that extra strength under his belt. He didn't meet Gladio's eye, looked down at the rock beneath his feet instead. Gladio didn't understand what it was like, being responsible for _killing_ his best friend. Or the terror that Prompto had felt when Noctis had attacked him, too.

As if reading his thoughts, Prompto spoke up. "Besides, I don't think it'll come to that," he commented. "You've showed a lot of control. Not like you've ever actually bitten anyone, right?"

Noctis blinked, turning to look at Prompto and then up at Ignis, who had just finished cleaning the camp stove and putting it away. Ignis turned back to look at him with a warning glance, cautioning him without speaking that telling the truth was a can of worms that he really didn't want to open. And it wasn't like Noctis needed to be told that. He knew that Gladio would go off the deep end if he found out the truth. But what if that was for the best? What if Noctis _deserved_ to have someone go off the deep end on him? After all, he was this _monster_ who had already killed one person and almost killed two more.

Gladio seemed to sense the non-conversation happening between Noctis and Ignis and he arched an eyebrow, walking over to the trash can with his plate. "Not counting that hunter, anyway. He was gonna kill you, so what were you supposed to do, ignore it?" he asked.

"You're absolutely correct, Gladio," Ignis interjected, lowering himself into another of the camp chairs next to Gladio, glancing over at Noctis. "I'm sure Noct is just still having a difficult time processing all that's happened. A _lot_ has happened. We've barely had much time to process anything. Get to Lucis, find you, meet Prompto..."

 _Despicable._ The hunter's words played in Noctis' head again. _Monster._ A despicable monster who had murdered one of his dearest friends and brought him back, and was sitting in front of the _other_ dearest friend—who happened to be the first friend's one true love—and was lying straight to his face. Lies of omission were still lies. And Gladio deserved to know what had happened. He couldn't do it anymore. Gladio, or at _least_ Prompto, deserved to know exactly how terrible he was.

Noctis stood and looked at Ignis. "I can't, Ignis. I can't..." he pleaded with his friend, tears—blood tears—forming in the corners of his eyes. "I can't lie anymore." He shook his head no.

"Lie." Gladio's comment was very much not a question, as he looked between Ignis and Noctis. "What's he talkin' about, Iggy?" he asked.

Before Ignis could speak up and try to talk him out of it by covering with another lie, Noctis looked at Gladio. "Ignis. It wasn't some random vampire on the street that turned him, okay? It was..." He paused—closing his eyes for a second and then opening them to look Gladio square in the eye—then continued. "It was me. The vampire that turned me left me in front of Ignis' apartment, Ignis took me inside and waited for me to turn. Got me blood for when I got up and a light ring and... and then he came back home. And I couldn't... I couldn't stop myself."

Over the course of his explanation, Gladio's expression morphed almost like it was a time-delay. At first, he was curious as to where Noctis was going. Then the curiosity changed to a question. Then the answer to that question made Gladio's eyes narrow in anger. Noctis had seen anger before. When someone made Iris cry or broke her heart, Gladio's fury could rival Ifrit's worst. This, he suspected, was much the same.

And then Gladio spoke up. "So." His tone was a low growl. "Ignis takes care of you. He brings you inside and ensures that you have _food and a gods damned light ring waiting for you_ when you wake up. And you..." He turned to look at Ignis for a second, then back at Noctis. "And you _kill him_. You _murder_ him?"

"Gladio-"

Gladio held a hand up, stopping Ignis from talking. "No. No, I want to hear him justify this."

Noctis blinked a couple of times. Justify it. How _could_ he justify it? Gladio was right. Of _course_ he was right. Noctis _had_ murdered Ignis. How could he possibly justify it? No amount of hunger, no amount of confusion about his surroundings or screaming voice from the monster in his head could justify what he'd done to Ignis. "I can't..." he answered.

In a breeze of movement, Gladio was on his feet, his chair knocked to the ground behind him. "Of _course_ you can't!" he seethed.

Through the tension, Prompto called out, "easy, Big Guy. C-come on, it's obvious that Ignis doesn't blame-"

"Of _course_ he doesn't!" Gladio snapped in response, turning his head to glare at Prompto. "Iggy wouldn't blame 'im no matter _what_ he did! But I'm not gonna-"

Noctis didn't move. He'd take whatever Gladio had to throw at him. "Gladio, I'm s-"

"To _hell_ with your apologies!" Gladio shouted. "You want to apologize to someone, apologize to Iggy! I don't give a damn about some flowery apology. I just want to know what you think gives you the right to _kill_ someone and then parade around like you didn't do a damn thing wrong! Did you _forget_?"

Noctis shook his head no. "Of _course_ I didn't forget!" he snapped in response. He couldn't have forgotten if he tried. Every time he looked at Ignis, it was somewhere back in the corner of his mind that if it wasn't for him, his friend would still be alive. Really and truly, breathing and beating heart alive. Not this joke alive that wasn't even close to life. Just movement and walking and talking, like he'd said to Prompto.

Prompto, who made Noctis have to be hyper-aware of everything that he did, lest he screw up and make the same mistake again. Prompto who, while understanding of Noctis' problems, couldn't ever _really_ understand. None of the vampires he'd known until now had ever _tried_ to control themselves. Honestly, Noctis didn't know how things had worked in Niflheim. But he couldn't imagine vampires who kept blood slaves as showing any sort of restraint. Noctis found his eyes wandering over to Prompto for a second, like maybe his new friend had some sort of respite and answer for him.

Gladio, though, shoved at Noctis' shoulder. "No justification?" he asked.

"Is there one?" was Noctis' simple response. Maybe a little bit snappy, but he couldn't help it.

With a huff, Gladio narrowed his eyes. "So, you're still gonna sit there and act all buddy-buddy with the man you killed?" He pointed at Prompto. "He next? Or me? Dunno if vampires can turn werewolves but I'm sure you'd love to find out."

Noctis honestly wasn't sure what he'd expected from this. He'd known that Gladio wouldn't take the news well. He'd _known_ that Gladio would be angry. That was honestly a part of why he'd been so adamant to tell the truth. Because he didn't _want_ to lie anymore. He didn't _want_ to get away with being the reason that Ignis was dead, without any ramifications for it. But maybe... maybe it was possible that he wasn't quite as ready as he'd thought he was _for_ those ramifications. Gladio bared down on him like an angry wolf—which was obviously fitting—and Noctis blinked back tears again.

He couldn't do this right now.

Backing up a couple of steps, Noctis tripped over a branch that had been knocked down in the scuffle against the hunters. He turned then, and started walking away. He didn't know what Gladio wanted him to say; didn't know what he _could_ say. Only when his back was turned did he allow some of the sticky blood tears to fall.

"Noct, wait!" Ignis called after him.

Gladio's voice came next. "Let 'im go, Iggy."

And go he did. Not far. Far enough so that the voices at camp were just muffled mumbles in his ear. He sat on the edge of the small pond where, just hours ago, the four of them had laughed and swam around like none of this was even important. Wiping his eyes of the red tears, he wiped them on his pants and started drawing arbitrary patterns in the sand beside him. His mind raced at a million miles an hour. Between the hunters and Gladio, he really _was_ wondering if it wouldn't have just been better if that hunter had just killed him a little while ago.

His mind was almost enough to distract him from the smell of cinnamon and sunshine as it inched ever closer to him. Almost. But not quite. The crackling of branches and the brightness of the shirt light caught his attention next, and he was tempted to stand and move further down the pond. Prompto shouldn't have been so willing to be alone with him. He'd seen Noctis nearly lose control twice, and then heard of a third time when he actually _had_ lost control.

Still, as much as he should have wanted to send Prompto away, he was free now. And it was his choice to make.

Without a word, Prompto settled down into the sand next to Noctis. Not close, but not far either. There was about a foot and a half of space between them. Prompto felt around in the sand, gathered a rock, and tossed it into the water.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" Noctis asked, his voice just barely loud enough for Prompto to hear him.

Prompto picked up another rock—a flat one this time—skipping it along the pond's surface. "Didn't really think that was important. I just figured, you know, that I'd come see if you were okay. Ignis is trying to explain the situation to Gladio. About vampire temptation and how hard it is when you first turn," he explained, shrugging a shoulder.

Just barely, Noctis managed to bite back a question about what Prompto could possibly know about that. He didn't ask it, though. Instead, he just nodded and shrugged, searching in the sand for his own rock and giving it a gentle flick into the pond. "I don't expect him to be okay with it," was Noctis' simple answer.

Scratching his head, Prompto shrugged again. "I think he will be, eventually. If it matters. He's already calmer."

"You don't know Gladio." Noctis' voice was supposed to be angry. Doubtful. But it really just sounded sad. "He's a good guy. He is. One of the best I know. But when you hurt someone he loves, like his sister or Ignis or-" Or Noctis, usually. "He doesn't take it well. He holds grudges. There's this one guy who broke his sister Iris' heart about three years ago. Every time he passed the guy on the streets back in the Crown City, he'd give this glare. And the guy just sort of walked the other way. And that was just a heartbreak. This is... this is different. This is... you know. Murder."

Prompto shook his head. "It's not that simple and you know it. Ignis knows it. I'm sure Gladio knows it, too." He pointed back over his shoulder at the camp, before picking up another flat rock and skipping it into the water.

Noctis shook his head no. "It may not be that simple, but that doesn't mean that I didn't kill him. He was alive. He came home. I bit him. He isn't. Just because he's there and talking to Gladio right now doesn't change that. I mean, hell. If that's all it takes to be alive, then I'm still alive too," he commented with a derisive snort.

Now, Prompto wasn't throwing stones anymore. His full attention was on Noctis, and he said, "I don't think it's as cut and dry as you're making it sound, Noct. I mean, look at you. You still have feelings, don't you?" he asked.

It was true, of course. He did still have emotions. Sadness. Disappointment. Frustration. Once in awhile, a touch of happiness. Like earlier that day when he'd jumped over the guard rail with Prompto. "Yeah, I guess so," he answered, tossing another rock into the water, before turning his eyes to look at Prompto again.

"And you still feel in other ways, too. Like-" Prompto slid a little closer, and reached a hand out to place on Noctis' arm- "you feel that, right? How does it feel?"

It felt a lot of ways. But at the top of the list was, "warm." Noctis glanced down at Prompto's hand when he answered. It felt gentle, too. Soft and nice against Noctis' cold skin. Like rushing blood beneath the skin and a torturous smell. Like life. It felt like life. Life that he _didn't_ have, and would never have again.

Prompto smiled. "You feel it. Dead people don't feel things, Noct." He shrugged his lower lip as he took his hand back. "You're not dead. You're just a different kind of alive."

A different kind of alive. That didn't sound half as bad. Noctis turned this over in his head a couple of times, before turning to look at Prompto with the tiniest of smiles coming back to his face. "How can you say that, though? After everything that... that my kind has done to you? How can you look at me and call me just a different kind of alive? I mean, you've seen me almost snap twice. Once was on you." The words threatened to bring him back down again, and he glanced back out at the water.

For a second, it didn't look like Prompto was going to answer. But then, he said, "I just... don't see in you what they had in them. With the imperial vampires, there was... there was something in their eyes. They didn't just want to, you know, eat." He rubbed the same hand that had touched Noctis' arm again over his neck, over some of the bite scars. "They wanted to be sure that I knew that it was all I was. I wasn't Prompto in Niflheim. I was Sixteen. The chancellor's favorite flavor." That last part was choked out. "They'd just started talking about breeding me when I escaped. They even had a partner picked for me. I think if they'd, you know, succeeded? They would have killed me."

Noctis felt that same fury as he'd felt when Aldercapt showed him Prompto's neck. "How'd you escape, anyway? Do you... do you mind me asking?" It was too late for that now, of course, but at least he could give Prompto the out if he wanted it.

He didn't, though. Prompto stared, baffled, at his own hands. "I honestly don't really know. I was in my room, reading this book that I got from the common area. And then suddenly this woman with black hair and this... black kimono dress, I guess... comes in and tells me to follow her." He paused. "I'd never seen her before, but... but I have to do what people tell me."

"Had to," Noctis corrected.

Prompto blinked. "Right. Had to," he corrected. "So, I followed her. She had this silver key card, and used it to open all of the doors between us and the exit. Every now and then, she'd tell me to hide. So, I'd hide until she told me to come out. And before too long, I was out. I turned around to thank her, she said, 'leave this place,' and then disappeared." He huffed a laugh. "I know it sounds crazy, but it's... it's really what happened."

Honestly, Noctis had no real reason not to believe him. He was sitting right beside him, he'd escaped somehow, so what reason would there be? "I believe you," he answered. "And you're not theirs anymore. You never will be again." Not if Noctis had anything to say about it.

The pair of them went quiet after that, but Noctis' mind wasn't quiet at all. What was going to happen from here? Would Gladio ever be able to forgive him? He knew that the four of them wouldn't split up. Ignis wouldn't leave, and as long as Ignis was there, Gladio wouldn't leave either. But would Gladio ever look at him and see anything other than the creature that had taken Ignis' life? And what about Prompto? Sure, Prompto was somehow still finding it in himself to comfort Noctis. But now he knew that Noctis wasn't immune from doing things that vampires did. Would he ever see that smile and that trust that he'd seen earlier that day?

As if Prompto had read his thoughts, he smiled softly. The exact trusting smile that Noctis had just been thinking about. "I think we should go back. I think you need to talk to Gladio about all of this. You guys are friends. If he doesn't understand... make him understand." He stood up, then offered his hand down to help Noctis to his feet.

Noctis frowned. "I don't even really understand myself," he admitted, though in spite of that, he was reaching for Prompto's hand and getting to his feet.

"So, you can make each other understand," Prompto insisted. "Just talk to each other, Noct. I bet Ignis telling him the same thing right now, too."

Who was he to say no? Prompto had just picked him up from the ground, both literally and metaphorically. He sighed and brushed some sand from his pants. "Alright," he answered. "I'll try." If Prompto was putting trust in Noctis, it was the least Noctis could do to put trust in him in return.


	9. Chapter 9

When Noctis and Prompto got back to camp, Ignis suggested that he and Prompto go and get a couple of extra blankets from the car. Noctis almost protested, but Prompto's words about Gladio rang in his head: _make him understand. Make each other understand._ Noctis watched as Gladio sat in the chair Ignis had been using with his head in his hands, fingers twined in his hair and rubbing what had to be a hell of a killer headache from his skull. Noctis would have probably had a headache too, if he could have. He cleared his throat, watching as Ignis and Prompto headed toward the stairs to get back up to the road, then glanced back at Gladio.

If he didn't do this now, he never would.

"Gladio?" Noctis called out.

When Gladio looked up at him, there was a lot less bite than he'd had earlier in his expression. He still didn't look happy, no. But now Noctis was a little bit less concerned about whether he'd get a stake through the heart, which was definitely more than a good start. He pulled in a slow breath and took a seat across the camp from his friend.

Gladio didn't say anything at first, just looked at Noctis with an expression that he didn't recognize. It wasn't anger. Not really. But it wasn't sadness, either. It was near sadness. Understanding? Acceptance? Noctis wasn't sure. But whatever it was, he preferred it a hell of a lot more than rage. With a sigh, Gladio leaned his head back and looked up at the sky. "It's okay," he said, although Noctis hadn't really said anything to start them off. "I mean, it's not okay. It's shit."

"You're telling me," Noctis agreed, glancing down at the ground with a humorless laugh.

Snorting a responding laugh, Gladio nodded his head. "Yeah. Iggy reminded me that what happens to you guys when you smell blood is kinda like what happens to me on a full moon," he explained. "It's like... you're a prisoner in your own damn mind, right? Even worse when you just turned. And for you guys-" He motioned broadly in the direction Ignis and Prompto had gone off in- "you can't just go find a steak or a burger or something when you wake up starving. Iggy said that he went through a whole fridge and a half full of blood, and he was still hungry."

Noctis nodded. "Yeah. It's like, you wake up feeling like you haven't eaten in a week." He steepled his thumbs, tapping them together a couple of times. 

Gladio's eyes were on Noctis again, he could feel it. But he didn't look up; didn't want to see the look of disgust or whatever it was that Gladio was probably throwing at him. "Least I know when my issue's gonna show itself," he commented. It wasn't an apology, but honestly, Noctis didn't even want one or deserve one. What it was, though, was a level of mutual understanding. Both of them had monsters in their heads. Noctis' just happened to be more unpredictable.

"Doesn't make it any easier, though, I bet," Noctis commented.

Laughing, Gladio shook his head no. "I mean, no. But at least I can get around it by locking myself away for a night. Bring a spare outfit, chain myself in a cave, and I'll be fine. You and Iggy... you gotta be on guard at all times."

When Noctis looked back up, he saw that Gladio was at the cooler. He'd reached in, grabbed himself a drink, then reached into Noctis and Ignis' cooler and grabbed a pouch of blood for Noctis. Crossing the camp, he offered it out. A peace offering. With an upward twitch of his lips—not quite a smile, but not the scowl he had been wearing, either—Noctis accepted it. He wasn't hungry, at least not hungry enough to warrant a pouch, but he wasn't going to ignore the gesture.

"How'd it happen?" Gladio asked as he sat back down in his chair, popping the top on his soda bottle. "With you, I mean. Iggy told me about him already. D'you mind me asking?"

Noctis paused and glanced down at the pouch in his hands. "I don't mind," he answered, grabbing his coffee mug from the nearby camp table. After he poked a hole in the corner of the pouch with a fang, he poured it into the mug and set the remainder on the table. "I was at your house until the sun started setting. Putting together a search party, y'know? We were gonna leave the next day. Scour the area around where you'd been hunting." He took a drink from the coffee mug and glanced over at Gladio.

With a frown, Gladio nodded. "Think I'd've been in Hammerhead by the time Iggy said it happened. Left for Lucis as soon as I woke up the next morning," he explained, before taking a drink.

"I left your place a little too late, though." Noctis shrugged. "I was walking home, and I saw this kid. He looked like he was ten, maybe. Twelve. He was acting weird. Crazy. Skipping and twirling down the street, giggling at me over his shoulder. Like one of those creepy kids in horror movies, y'know?" In retrospect, it was easy to see that Noctis was falling into a trap. But at the time, "I just wanted to make sure he was safe. Thought it was kinda my duty as prince."

Gladio had caught on. Of course he had. "And the kid wasn't a kid, was he?" he asked.

Shaking his head, Noctis shrugged. "I mean, he was. But he must've been turned as a kid. And it wasn't even the kid that did it, either. He led me into this back alley, where I turned around and this full grown man dropped down from a roof. Drained me, told me I couldn't be royal blood if I didn't have blood, then turned me." He stared into the mug at the pooling red inside. "Next thing I knew, I was waking up at Ignis' place." And killing him. The frown drew his lips back down.

Instead of an immediate answer, Gladio took a drink that was longer than was probably necessary. Buying himself time, Noctis assumed. When he finished, he nodded his head once. "That exile's never been worth a damn," he commented. "Your dad knows how many vamps and wolves are hiding around town, but he can't really do anything about it without causing a massive panic." He huffed an annoyed sound.

Noctis nodded. "And then he had to exile his own son because of it." A swell of emotion pushed up from his throat, but he washed it back down with another drink that finished off the whole mug. He poured the rest of the pouch in.

Eyes up on the Regalia, where the shirt light on Prompto's shirt signified that he and Ignis had just finished up in the car and were on their way back, Gladio shrugged and nodded. "Listen. I still don't like what happened, okay? Still don't like that Iggy's..." He paused, trailing off and shaking his head hard to dispel the rest of that sentence from his mind. "But it ain't your fault, man. Not being in control of your own mind sucks." He finished his drink off and tossed the bottle in the recyclables. "You've shown pretty damn good control around Prompto, too," he added.

Pretty good. Noctis thought back to the first night he'd first met Prompto; when he'd all but proven Gladio wrong. But he didn't mention that. "He's weird," Noctis mused, a not-quite-smile coming back to his face. "He, of all people, should look at me and see me for what I am, you know? After everything he's been through. But he doesn't. I don't understand, but..." But it was nice.

"Hell, if he smells as good as he does to you and you still haven't bit him," Gladio shrugged a shoulder, like he was leading Noctis with that sentence.

Noctis shrugged and chuckled, standing up and putting his mug back on the table. "Don't think I'd forgive myself," he admitted. "I mean, I never will about..." He trailed off. About Iggy. He didn't want to bring that back up, though. Gladio was trying to look past it, and the last thing he wanted was to bring that back up. "You still smell, though." It was a joke, and even though his back was turned, he wore the tiniest of grins, which came across in his voice.

The smell of wet dog and rotten meat got closer to him, and he felt a gentle shove against his shoulder. Heat. A slightly hotter heat than Prompto's. Most likely a side effect of the lycanthropy. He didn't mention it. "Look who's talking," he joked in return.

"What about Iggy, though? If I smell like trashy Accordan cologne, like you said I did, what does he smell like?" Noctis asked, glancing over toward the horizon where Prompto's shirt light appeared in the distance. "Is it bad, too?"

Gladio shook his head no. "Surprisingly, no. He smells more like..." He paused, considering how he was going to continue that sentence. "It's hard to explain. It's not even a specific smell, either. He smells like himself, you know? Like Iggy. Like... mine." Alongside the words, a grin crossed Gladio's face.

A bit of curiosity rose in Noctis' mind. He found himself wondering what it was like, seeing someone, looking at them and knowing that they were yours. Rather than ask though, he chuckled softly. "Like yours," he mused. "I've read so much on vampires over the past couple weeks, but not so much about werewolves. It's not surprising, though, that you feel that 'mine' connection to Iggy. Wolves and dogs are loyal, right?"

Nodding, Gladio chuckled. "That was what I figured it was, yeah. I mean, Iggy should smell, y'know, like you," he joked, with another nudge of Noctis' shoulder.

"Ass," Noctis joked back with a smirk.

Ignis climbed the rocks with an armful of blankets, walking over to the tent and setting them inside. "No bloodshed," he commented, his smile not quite hiding his relief. 

Prompto, too, was grinning from ear to ear. "And they're smiling!" He walked over to his chair and sat down. "Told ya you had nothing to worry about, Iggy!" He stretched his arms out over his head and yawned.

"Yeah, we're good," Gladio commented, putting his arm around Noctis' neck and pulling him in for a noogie.

Scoffing, Noctis pushed lightly against his friend, trying but not trying to get loose. "He still smells bad, though," he grunted in annoyance.

When Gladio released his neck and shoved him lightly in the shoulder, he shrugged. "Whatever, Noct. Lay off the cologne. You're not supposed to bathe in it," he teased. "No matter how much you wanna impress Blondie over there." He pointed at Prompto with his thumb.

Noctis' head snapped back to look at Gladio in shock. Yeah, he was _definitely_ glad that he couldn't blush. "I'm not trying to _impress_ him. I don't even _have_ any cologne." That wasn't exactly true. There was some, but it was in his pack up in the car. It wasn't like it mattered. He chanced a glance Prompto's way, to see his friend covering his face and glancing down at the ground. Why was _he_ embarrassed, though? It wasn't like Gladio had embarrassed _him_ or anything.

Ignis was smiling on the other side of the camp as he got into the cooler for a pouch. "Well, that's not exactly true. What about that bottle of Insomnian Blasphemy that I saw you pack in your bag?" he teased.

"Okay, one, Blasphemy is not cheap. And it's not Accordan. And two, I didn't even know him when I packed that!" Noctis insisted, his eyes wide as he stared incredulously at his friends. "It's not like I said 'oh, maybe I'll meet some cute blond whose blood smells like cinnamon and sunshine. Better make sure I don't smell like dirt and blood all the time.'" 

Gladio was staring at him, grin growing ever wider. "What's that?" he asked.

Ignis, too, grinned wildly. "Cute, you say. Isn't that interesting, Prompto?"

"I did not say that!"

But Gladio nodded his head. "You did. You said-" he raised the timbre in his voice a little bit, trying to mimic Noctis' voice- _"It's not like I said 'oh, maybe I'll meet some cute blond whose blood smells like cinnamon and sunshine.'"_ His voice went back to normal. "Cute blond. I only see one blond around here." He quirked his head to the side.

At the moment, Noctis didn't even dare to look over at Prompto. Had he actually said that? Noctis fidgeted a little, refusing to turn his body around. Sure, Prompto was cute. A bright smile and even brighter eyes. Coiffed blond hair and freckles like a sky of stars. Noctis wasn't blind or stupid. But to actually say it aloud, with Prompto sitting right there in the area... that was a whole different situation. It wasn't even something he'd wanted to say in front of Ignis and Gladio. But, here he was. And he had absolutely no idea where he was supposed to go _from_ here.

Ignis seemed to sense exactly how flustered the teasing had made him, though, so he turned to Prompto, then to Gladio with a soft laugh. "Aren't you tired, Gladio?" he asked calmly.

His back was still turned to Prompto, but he managed to cast Ignis a half-grateful look. Half-grateful, only because he hadn't dissuaded the situation before this point. His encouragement hadn't helped matters. Gladio wouldn't have pressed the issue as much if Ignis hadn't done so, too. Still, eventually, when both Gladio and Prompto decided to turn in for the night, Noctis was relieved. His muttered "g'night" to Prompto was short, and he still didn't turn to look at his friend when he said it, either. Cute. Did he _have_ to say cute? Couldn't he have said something else? Or just omitted anything about Prompto's appearance altogether?

Heaving a sigh, he picked up the end of the blood pouch he'd drank with Gladio and brought it over to the trash bag. Turning to glance at Ignis, he scratched his head. "So, how far are we from Lestallum, anyway?" he asked, trying to steer the conversation away from what he'd said. Especially since Gladio and Prompto would be able to hear every word spoken until they fell asleep.

"We should be there by the end of the day tomorrow," Ignis explained, pouring his pouch into his coffee mug.

Noctis nodded, and the campsite fell into silence. Lestallum would be a test. A city filled with vampires, werewolves, and humans mixing together seemed a little bit like something out of a fantasy novel, but they really did seem to have everything there. Worry etched Noctis' face for a moment, though. All he could think of was the hunter. How at the very second the man had started bleeding, Noctis had lost control. In a city, there were all the more people, all the more chances for him to encounter fresh blood like that. What were the penalties for when a vampire _did_ lose control? If he did, would he be thrown out of Lestallum, too? Exiled, like he had been from the Crown City?

In the tent, the silence turned to soft snoring, and Noctis glanced at Ignis. "Has Gladio always snored?" he asked with a half-smile.

Ignis laughed fondly. "He has. Though it's better now than it used to be. He used to wake me up in the middle of the night." He glanced over at the tent, then looked back over at Noctis.

"How do you manage it?" Noctis asked.

An eyebrow arched, just barely visible over the top of his sunglasses, Ignis asked, "being woken up? Well, you know I don't sleep anymore, but I _used_ to-"

"No," Noctis shook his head. "That's not what I mean. I mean... smelling him. You said he smelled good, right?"

As he realized what Noctis meant, Ignis shrugged a shoulder. "It isn't as though you've bitten Prompto, Noctis. And you won't. I know you."

Noctis sighed. "It's difficult," he admitted. "I'll think I have it under control and then he'll touch me or the wind will hit him just right and it's all I can think about. But you're right, I won't let myself do it. I just don't get why I let him in my space like I do, when it-" he paused and breathed a soft sigh- "when it's so hard. It would be so much easier to just... ask him to keep his distance." His head turned toward the tent.

"But you don't want to do that, right?" Ignis asked, reaching into Gladio's pack and pulling a book out.

Blinking, Noctis turned his head back to Ignis again. Did he want to? No, Ignis was absolutely right about that. "No," he admitted. It was easier to admit, now that Prompto wasn't there. He really didn't want to ask Prompto to leave his space. "I should. I want to keep him safe, so I should want to keep him at a distance, but I don't. And it doesn't make sense, because he'll never really be safe as long as he's with me but I-"

"But _you_ ," Ignis interrupted, "have to learn to control yourself somehow. You don't think it was difficult when I hugged Gladio at camp that first night?" He shook his head. "It was hard. It was... _impossible_. But I did it, and I've done it since, too. Because I don't want to sacrifice Gladio in my life just to go the easy route and remove temptation."

Noctis laughed softly. "There's a difference." He huffed a breath and stared up at the sky. "You and Gladio are together, Specs. You and Gladio _belong_ together." They always had. It had been why Noctis was so insistent that they finally get over themselves and stop moping.

To that, Ignis just laughed softly. "Who's to say you and Prompto don't?" he asked.

"No," Noctis insisted, turning his head to look back at the tent again. "No, he belongs with... with a human. Someone who's the same kind of alive as he is." Someone who wasn't cold. Someone who he could look at without thinking about where he came from; what he'd escaped. Someone who could smell him and not want to put him through the hell he'd been through his whole life.

Ignis frowned at Noctis. "Don't you think that's his choice to make?"

Noctis didn't respond to that. Instead, he just leaned his head back toward the sky again and closed his eyes, closing the topic for conversation. It wasn't even relevant. Maybe it would have been relevant if Prompto had given any indication that he was interested in Noctis, but as of right now, he was just a friend that Noctis was helping find a new way in life. If he became anything more than that, Noctis would have to take care of the situation. But it wasn't worth thinking about right now.


	10. Chapter 10

Lestallum simultaneously was and wasn't what Noctis expected it to be. The city was industrial; small compared to Lucis, and a majority of it was composed of a giant factory that sat against the back border. Just as advertised, people _and_ vampires walked the streets, as well as some werewolves, just going about their business like there wasn't a giant predator-to-prey natural cycle that they were supposed to be wrapped up in, and it gave Noctis a shameful amount of hope. They'd been here for a week now. Not once had Noctis been tempted by the blood of any random passersby.

On day one, he and Ignis had found their way to the blood bank. It was far more expansive than the document Ignis had read suggested. The rooms were split into age, gender, blood type, and the receptionist had explained that it was because different vampires had different tastes. Noctis had figured that out by the way that different people smelled different ways, but it was nice to have confirmation. She'd asked how long they'd been turned, and if they'd been able to discover their tastes yet. Then she'd taken them to what she called the 'sample room.'

Nothing that Noctis tasted in the sample room smelled quite as tempting as Prompto's blood, which was a little bit alarming. At least it had been, until Ignis admitted to the same kind problem in relation to Gladio. Then it became less alarming. And then _more_ alarming shortly thereafter. How could Prompto possibly be to Noctis what Gladio was to Ignis?

Still, he'd continued with the tasting, and discovered that he had an affinity to AB+ blood, from males. Ignis preferred B-, also from males. And the woman at the front desk tallied the price for two boxes each, which came to far, far less than it had in Hammerhead. Between that and the 'concentrated blood pills' that the woman had described as 'perfect for emergencies,' the total had come to fifteen hundred gil. Ignis had insisted on footing the bill this time, since Noctis had last time, and they'd left. Finding lodgings had been easy for them with their light rings. They didn't need to get apartments in the always-packed vampire building, with the metal shutters, so they'd been able to take up residence in a place that would be perfect for Prompto to stay with them temporarily, too. It was decided, since Noctis was neighbors with Ignis and Gladio, that Prompto would stay at Noctis' place, since Noctis didn't need the bed.

It was still undecided when they'd take him to Accordo, mostly because none of them really talked about it too much. He fit into the group well. Gladio teased him just like he teased Noctis, Ignis was helping him learn to cook... and then there was Noctis. Noctis wondered sometimes, if Prompto thought about what Gladio had said in camp. If he had, he'd never brought it up. That was good, though. It meant less awkwardness.

None, actually. Even after all of that, they'd fallen back into their old comfort. Or, relative comfort in Noctis' case. Again, there was always an awareness in the corner of his mind. The blood flowing. The scent. But he was actually starting to feel good about his ability to quiet that voice. Living with Prompto helped. He was getting more and more comfortable with always being around that scent. While it still made him hungry, while it still kept the monster always awake and always alert, he was getting better at letting his human side take dominance. The animal, now, was pushed into the corner, pinned in place by his newfound confidence.

Tonight was an odd night. Tonight was a full moon, and the first time since they'd started traveling together that they would spend a night more than a room away from one another. Gladio had insisted on renting one of the werewolf cells to lock himself away while the night ticked away, and Prompto and Noctis sat on the sidelines outside of the rental room and listened while he and Ignis debated—bickered was probably more appropriate, honestly—about whether or not Ignis would join him.

"I don't give a shit, Iggy. You come with me and... and who knows what'll happen?" Gladio asked, though his voice clearly stated that he wasn't confident in what he was saying. He knew that Ignis would have an argument right away. His eyes were on the pavement, like he didn't want to meet Ignis' eyes.

Ignis, to the surprise of absolutely no one, spoke up right away. "Gladio, it's not as though I'm easy to harm," he pointed out, his voice calm as he took a step forward. "I'd be more concerned about hurting you, personally."

But Gladio snapped his head back. "You would never," he commented sharply, as though his words would deflect Ignis' and send them crashing to the ground.

To that, Ignis nodded his agreement. "Exactly. I wouldn't hurt you, and you wouldn't hurt me," he pointed out, taking a couple of steps forward and placing a hand on Gladio's cheek. "So, what is this actually about?" His other hand came up and discarded his sunglasses, so that he and Gladio were eye to eye. There was no lying to Ignis when he looked you square in the eye.

Gladio, knowing this, turned and looked away.

However, Ignis didn't allow it. He slid his hand down to Gladio's chin, catching it in between his fingers and turning him to look back into Ignis' eyes. Noctis looked away, feeling almost like he was intruding, but even with his eyes on a group of teenagers as they walked down the street to the Lestallum Full Moon Festival, he could hear the conversation as clear as a bell.

"What is this actually about?" Ignis repeated.

With a quiet sigh, Gladio finally answered. "I don't want you to see me like that," he admitted.

Ignis hummed a thoughtful note. "As a wolf?" he asked calmly.

An annoyed huff echoed out in the area around them, and Gladio shook his head no. "Violent. Angry. I don't know what I'm like, but the wolves that Dave and I fought the night I got turned were... they were a damn mess, Iggy. Snarling, drooling, always bearing their teeth and..." He stopped short, huffing out a breath. "I don't want you to-"

A hushing noise hit Noctis' ear, Ignis' voice, and he interrupted before Gladio could finish. "If roles were reversed, there would be nothing in the world that could keep you from going in there with me. So, you should understand that there's nothing in the world that will keep me from going in there with you." He paused for a moment. "You don't want me to see you like that, but I don't want you do go through it alone. Don't make me stay behind," he spoke, his voice level but his words pleading.

When Noctis turned to look back, he saw the weakest of smiles crossing Gladio's face. His eyes—brassy-silver instead of their normal brown, with the impending full moon—weren't completely certain, but his words didn't let it show. "I'm not gonna convince you, am I?" he asked.

"Never," was Ignis' only answer.

Gladio's smile grew in spite of himself, and he leaned in to give Ignis a soft kiss. "Alright," he agreed softly. "We're burning daylight, and it'll be nice to have someone tell me how I act when I'm... y'know, that. So." He turned to look at Noctis and Prompto. "We should get in there before the sun goes down. So... guess, uh... we'll see you in the morning?"

Noctis nodded his head once and walked up to Ignis, giving him the small thermos cup that he'd filled with blood for himself. "Here, Specs," he offered, his hand gripping Ignis' shoulder as he nodded to the door. "You probably won't even need it, but it's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it, right?" Ignis had used those words on Noctis a hundred thousand times, so the ability to throw them back at his friend brought a little smirk to his face.

"Wonder who taught you that," Ignis teased with a smirk, accepting the thermos with a nod of gratitude.

Shrugging a shoulder and his lower lip, Noctis stepped back, next to Prompto. "Some mom friend, I guess," he mused.

Ignis laughed softly, stepping back and watching as Gladio tugged the large door up and open. On the other side was a cement room, the size of an average garage. It was empty, barring a chain with an adjustable collar on a back wall. It looked like it had been broken off hundreds of times and then replaced, and Noctis turned his head to glance at Gladio, who looked at the room in wide-eyed sadness. It was reality for him, Noctis knew that. But it still made him a little bit sad.

Prompto, too, looked a little bit bothered by the whole scene, and he turned to look at Noctis with concern lining his eyes. He didn't say anything, of course. They just exchanged looks, and then turned just in time to see Gladio pulling the heavy door back down with both he and Ignis on the other side. Prompto put his hands in his pockets and sighed softly.

"Locked away when the moon gets full," Prompto murmured, glancing over at Noctis again. "I can only imagine, too, that chaining himself up like that has to be humiliating. No wonder he didn't want Ignis to see it."

With a nod, Noctis' lips drew down into a frown. Gladio's situation was hell, definitely. But he had Ignis there with him. "I'm not sure what's worse," he admitted. "Not knowing when it's flaring up and having someone see you, or knowing when it's coming and having to face them beforehand. But Specs won't think any less of him." They'd seen each other at lows before. This was a little bit lower, maybe, but not enough to shake them.

And Prompto nodded his agreement. "Yeah, I don't think anything could make Ignis think less of him, honestly. Those two are so stupidly in love." A smile crossed Prompto's face as he glanced at the door again.

"It's a little sickening sometimes," Noctis mused, making a face and pretending to be disgusted. But he wasn't. Not really. When Noctis dated, it was always in short bursts. Girls or boys who thought he was cute and asked him out, the relationship lasted a few weeks—or sometimes a few months—but never really anything to keep in the record books. He wanted, _desperately_ wanted, a love like Ignis and Gladio had.

Unbidden, his eyes turned to look at Prompto, who was shrugging his head to the side and smiling. "I think it's sweet," he admitted. "If a vampire and a werewolf can be as in love as those two are, it proves that love really can come from anywhere."

Noctis chuckled a soft breath, then glanced back down at the ground. "Should've expected that you'd be a romantic," he mused, gesturing for them to start walking back to the center of town.

Quirking an eyebrow but following, Prompto reached out and shoved Noctis lightly in the shoulder. Cinnamon and sunshine sped through the air and teased his senses again, but again, he pushed it to the wayside. "Nothing wrong with being a romantic, though. At least I don't think so," he mused. His cheeks went pink, and Noctis could almost sense the blood rising closer to his skin.

He ignored it and shook his head no. "There isn't. Whoever manages to snag you up is a pretty lucky person." Maybe accidentally, Noctis stressed the word 'person.' Because Prompto _deserved_ a person.

Prompto didn't answer, just glanced down at the ground and shrugged his head. "I don't know, though. I mean... I've got baggage, you know? Look at me." He chuckled humorlessly and glanced at his shoulders, his arms, at a particularly nasty inch long mark on his left wrist. "I'm a pincushion. Who's ever gonna be able to look at me and see anything _other_ than a pincushion?"

Noctis felt an irrational flare of anger rise up as Prompto talked about himself like he was just an object. His brow furrowed and his mouth formed a thin straight line. "Don't talk about yourself like that," he half-commanded. "You're not a pincushion, Sunshine. You're a person. A _good_ person. And anyone who can't see past all those marks to see that you _are_ a good person isn't good enough to be around you." He paused, catching Prompto's arm in his hand before he could walk too much further away. The rushing of blood beneath his hand was caught his attention again, and he released Prompto's arm when he turned to look.

"You're not just a pincushion, Sunshine," he insisted again.

A weak smile crossed Prompto's face, and he shrugged a shoulder. "Thanks. You're a good person."

Person. A good person. A protest formed behind Noctis' lips, but before he could even get it out into the open, he felt warmth against each of his arms. Prompto's hands clasped his biceps, and piercing blue eyes appeared in his vision as Prompto angled himself to catch Noctis' eye. With a blink, Noctis watched as Prompto straightened up, but didn't move his hands from Noctis' arms.

Prompto smiled an honest smile. "You are," he insisted. "You're a good person, okay? And I don't wanna hear any of this 'I'm not a person' talk, either, because you _are_. We went over this, remember? You feel things. Both in here-" He paused to place his hand flat on Noctis' chest- "and out here." His other hand squeezed Noctis' arm. "Maybe you don't have vitals. But that's not all it takes to be alive, okay? It's not. And I won't ever be able to see you as anything _other_ than alive. As a person. The person who saved my life."

A smile crossed Noctis' face unbidden again. "And that's why you're more than what they convinced you you are," he insisted, nodding his head. "I mean, ever since I've met you, you've tried over and over again to convince me that I'm still as much of a person as you are. I just... I don't know how you do it." He chuckled softly.

With a shrug, Prompto let his hands drop from Noctis' skin. "It's because I believe it," he insisted.

Because he believed it. Noctis pondered that carefully, his smile wilting a little bit. "How, though? I mean," he paused, his voice trailing off for a moment, before he lightly raked his right fang over his lip. "You've seen me almost kill a man." Huffing out a breath through his nose, he turned his eyes to the floor.

Prompto chuckled. "And you've seen me _actually_ kill a man," he pointed out.

Noctis blinked and snapped his head back up to look at Prompto. Of course, he hadn't forgotten when Prompto had saved him the other night. But, "that's different," he pointed out. "You were... that was to save me. I mean, if you hadn't done, it I-"

"I'd do it again," Prompto pointed out quietly. "I mean, to help you like that? I would do it again if I had to."

It should have made Noctis feel good, knowing that someone was so willing to help him. But really, it just made him sad. "I don't want you to have to do that," he pointed out. "I want... I want you to have your peaceful life in Accordo." Away from dangerous vampires and hunters and anyone who might have thought that he looked like a pincushion.

There was an expression on Prompto's face then, that Noctis couldn't quite identify. It wasn't quite sadness, but it was close. The sparkle in his eyes wasn't quite as bright as usual and it made Noctis wonder exactly where it had gone; why it was gone. His lips curved down just slightly, and his shoulders slumped. One arm reached up to wrap around his chest, and he raised his shoulders in a shrug. Noctis wasn't sure exactly what was doing it, but what he was sure of was the fact that he just wanted to make it go away. Maybe he was tense about having to make a pit stop here. About how long it was taking to get him _to_ Accordo.

He reached his own hand up, placing it on Prompto's arm, and flashed a nervous smile. "Hey, you don't have to wait too long, you know? All you need to do is tell us when you want to l-"

"It's not that," Prompto admitted. "I'm not in a rush to get to Accordo. And I like it here. I like it with you guys. With..."

When he trailed off, Noctis found himself curious. Worried, even. Prompto had always faced everything so far with a smile, but at the mention of Accordo—which had been the plan since day one—he went somber like this, and suddenly couldn't complete his sentences. "With..." Noctis urged gently, glancing at his hand on Prompto's arm and reveling in the feeling of the warmth beneath his skin.

Prompto glanced nervously away from Noctis. "With..." he start-stopped again, worrying his lip in his mouth. "You."

Noctis' eyes widened against his volition, and he looked Prompto over in surprise. "Me..." he murmured. It wasn't a question, at least not in the technical sense. There was no upward inflection, no indication that it was a real question other than the way that he looked at Prompto, with his eyebrows high on his forehead and his mouth slightly agape.

"Yeah," Prompto answered. "I mean... I remember the other day at camp. When you called me cute. Well, I think you're cute, too. And nice and I really, really... I _like_ me when I'm with you. I like it with them, too." He gestured toward where they'd left Gladio and Ignis. "But with you, I..." He laughed an embarrassed note. "I... sound so stupid."

All Noctis could do was stare at him and blink dumbly. With him. Prompto liked it with him. Prompto somehow managed to like himself better... with _him_. It didn't make sense to Noctis. It wasn't like he'd done anything special. In fact, if _anything_ , the actions he'd taken should have made Prompto all the warier. But somehow it didn't. It didn't make sense.

He met Prompto's eyes again, and shook his head no. "Not stupid," he insisted. But that didn't mean that it made sense.

Prompto smiled a lopsided and nervous smile. "You really are cute, though."

Boldly, or maybe stupidly, Prompto inched into Noctis' space a little bit more. It wasn't the first time that the smell of cinnamon and sunshine had been this close. When Aldercapt had removed the wristband, it was even stronger than it was now. But something about this... Noctis felt way, way differently than he did that day. The warmth of Prompto's body was close now. Closer and further each time his chest rose and fell. The animal tried to push out against the rest of Noctis' mind, but another part, a different part, pushed it back.

Noctis wanted to. Gods, did he _ever_ want to. The warmth radiating from Prompto somehow managed to warm him from within, too, and it really did take every bit of control he had not to lean in and kiss him. Closing his eyes hard, Noctis turned his head slowly, tensely, and forced himself to step back and away from Prompto before he could get carried away.

"I can't."


	11. Chapter 11

"But I-"

Shaking his head no, Noctis said, "I _can't_ , Sunshine. I want to. I... _really_ want to." Of course he wanted to.  Prompto smelled like heaven and almost everything about him made Noctis feel like he was still alive. Noctis turned his head to look down at the ground. "But... but I can't. Because I'm _not_ alive. And you shouldn't feel so safe around me. Because you _aren't_."

Prompto took another step forward. "But I am!" he insisted, his tone desperate, pleading. Noctis felt terrible for making him feel that way, but it really was for his own good.

Noctis stepped back again. "You _aren't_. Think what you want. Trust me all you want. But I'm the exact same type of creature who put all those marks on your skin. You shouldn't... you shouldn't want to kiss me. You should want to run away from me. I can get you to Accordo. But... but that's it." Heat formed behind his eyes, and he closed them hard to push it back before any more red tears leaked out.

Once again, Prompto stepped forward. "But Noct, I-" But this time, his feet fumbled with each other just slightly and he stumbled to the ground. His hands reached so he could catch himself, but in the process...

Noctis could smell it immediately when it happened. It was just a slight splitting of the skin, but that was all it took. The scent of cinnamon and sunshine rose to the surface of Prompto's skin and _completely overpowered_ Noctis, and he slammed his eyes shut as he struggled to keep himself in place. The animal pushed out against everything else he was feeling. The warmth. The wanting. The loneliness. All of it. They warred in his mind for dominance, and while Noctis wanted nothing more than to go and help Prompto to his feet, he worried about what would happen if he allowed himself to move, unless it was to run away.

He had to run. He had to run because there was no way he could be here and run the risk of hurting Prompto. Not because of some small scrape on his hand. _Run. Leave until he can clean his hand up and cover it, and then-_ Before he could even finish that thought, though, a loud thudding sound echoed throughout the alley.

"Well, what do we have here?" An oily and familiar voice filled the alleyway, and suddenly, any desire to run drained from him. Noctis would never forget that voice, or the face that went with it. Ardyn. "I was drawn here by a familiar scent and what do I find?"

At the sound of the not-so-new voice, Prompto rolled onto his back on the ground, and looked up in horror. He scooted back on the ground, toward Noctis. "No..." he whimpered.

Laughing a chiding laugh, Ardyn shook his head in dismay. "You, my pet, have been quite a bit of trouble to find. But we're both here now, aren't we? And if you don't mind, since your dear protector there seems to be frozen in place, I'll just-"

Honestly, there was still so much about this situation that Noctis wasn't completely sure about. Ardyn was here for Prompto, not him. How did Ardyn _know_ Prompto? As the gears in his head turned, though, Ardyn had closed the distance between himself and Prompto as he lay on the ground by two all-too-grandiose steps forward. Noctis wasn't sure what came over him in the moment, but the very _thought_ of threat befalling Prompto overtook the animal. Or maybe it woke up a different _side_ of the animal. Whatever it was, though, it was exactly what he'd needed in the moment. Because he didn't want to run anymore. All he wanted was to make sure that Ardyn didn't get any closer to Prompto.

So, he shot forward, rapidly closing the distance between himself and Ardyn. "No," he seethed, hands shooting out and shoving the other vampire backward. Before Ardyn could recover, Noctis surged toward the wall of a nearby building and pushed Ardyn along with him, pinning him in place. "You can't have him."

Ardyn laughed softly, pushing back at Noctis with strength even greater than Noctis' own, laughed another chiding note. "And why _not_? He _does_ belong to me. Isn't that right, Sixteen?" he asked, turning his head to look at Prompto with a lascivious smile sliding across his face.

It seemed like Prompto was too stunned to answer. He just stood there covering his hand and trying desperately to stop the blood from dripping and gathering the attention of any other nearby vampires. Noctis didn't need to hear any explanation anyway, though. He regained his balance from Ardyn's shove and surged forward again. "He _doesn't_ belong to you!" he countered. "He doesn't belong to _anyone_. Get out of here before I make you regret it!"

Though Noctis had Ardyn pinned, the man still had a cocky and slimy smile on his face. Noctis couldn't see anything below where he had Ardyn pinned at the collarbone, but he did feel a slight movement beneath his arm. Before he could react, he felt the sharp stab of something hitting him in the side. The pain surprised him. Maybe because the last time he'd actually _felt_ any manner of pain was when he'd burned himself at Ignis' apartment. Or maybe it was because that hunter's sword hadn't even been able to break his skin when thrown at him from behind. But this pain... it was quick and it was sharp and it was enough to throw Noctis off-balance.

He looked down quickly, only to see a wooden stake sticking out from just above his hip. With a hiss of pain, he reached down and yanked the piece of wood from his skin, throwing it to the ground and out of Ardyn's immediate reach.

Perhaps that was a mistake, though, because Ardyn smirked and reached into his coat, pulling another stake out. "Should've held onto it, Noctis," he mocked, holding it out as he raised a hand in a casual shrug. "Now. You can either run away and let me take Sixteen here back home to Niflheim... or I can-"

Ardyn's words stopped just as abruptly as the stab to Noctis' side. From behind Noctis came a loud _TWANG_ , and with a loud crack of impact, a wooden stake found its way to Ardyn's shoulder. Noctis whirled around to see Prompto holding his crossbow at the ready, then turned back around to see Ardyn recoiling.

The advantage was momentary and short, but Noctis took complete advantage. He scooped Prompto into his arms, clutching him close and taking off in a sprint toward the apartment they'd been renting. A few people stared as they passed, but Noctis didn't stop. He kept sprinting until they were behind the door to the apartment building, then slowed his steps to a jog until they got up to their floor. Maybe it wasn't the safest place for them; Ardyn could still find them relatively easily, probably. Prompto's scent was strong with the open scrape on his hand.

But at the very least, this gave them a chance to plan.

Prompto, as soon as Noctis set him on the floor, hurried into the bathroom to clean and cover his scrape. That, however, left Noctis alone to pace the room and hope beyond all hope that Ardyn didn't manage to find his way to the apartment. He wanted to leave the city; wanted to make a run for it and find a safe place to hide Prompto until Gladio and Ignis left their lock-up in the morning. Noctis had no idea what to do. But as he waited for Prompto to leave the bathroom, awareness of everything else about the situation washed over him in a wave.

Ardyn, the very same vampire who had turned him, was the one responsible for everything that had happened to Prompto his whole life. A vengeful fire burned in the pit of Noctis' stomach, and he wanted absolutely nothing more than to destroy Ardyn and make sure that he could never touch Prompto or anyone else again. And when Prompto came out from the bathroom, Noctis would tell him exactly that.

As if reading Noctis' mind, the door to the bathroom opened and Prompto came out. "So," his voice, quieter and shakier than usual, filled the room as he walked across the room. His eyes were puffy and red, and Noctis could tell without trying too hard that he'd been crying. "Now you know who my owner is."

" _Former_ owner," Noctis spoke, a little sharper than he'd intended. But his anger was making it hard for his voice to stay level.

Prompto blinked quickly, them looked down at the floor. "R-right..." he whispered. "Former owner."

Internally cursing himself, Noctis looked down at the ground too. "Sorry," he murmured. "But... but he's not your owner anymore." He dared himself to glance back up at Prompto.

Blinking a couple of times, Prompto nodded. "Right. I know, I... I just... it's hard to break the habit, you know? My whole life..." He sighed and took a seat on the recliner in the living room. "I see him and I think fear. I think..." Though he didn't say anything else, he raised a hand and rubbed it along his neck, over the bite marks.

Noctis turned around and nodded. "Never again, okay?" he vowed softly, staying in place across the room.

Prompto looked down and nodded. "Yeah," was all he said at first. Several seconds passed, wherein Prompto stared down at the band aid covering the scrape on his hand. Then, it looked like something dawned on him and he turned his head to glance back up at Noctis. "He knew you. He said your name."

Finally, Noctis turned to look away from Prompto. With a nod and a slow blink, he said, "yeah." Turning his eyes to look at Prompto, he said, "he bit me. Turned me." Noctis reached up and ran his fingers lightly along the raised skin on his neck.

Much to Noctis' surprise, _Prompto_ was seething with rage. His hands were clenched and his eyes were narrowed to slits; his brows furrowed and he just tensed up completely. Noctis wanted to ask why, but before he even had the chance, Prompto rumbled, "bastard. He takes everything he wants and just... doesn't care. My blood. Your... your _life_..." He looked up at Noctis.

Noctis couldn't help but puff a breath of humorless laughter out through his nose. He finally moved across the room, but when he realized what he was doing, he stopped before he got too close to Prompto. The whole conversation they'd had earlier flooded back to him like someone had just raised the gates on a dam. He frowned. Hesitation. That comfort that he'd felt before, it wasn't safe. Not for Prompto, and not for him, either. He stood by what he said; Prompto deserved to be with a _human_. With someone who wasn't tempted to the point when he had to freeze completely by a scrape on the hand.

His hand went down to hang at his side and he hissed lightly when his arm made contact with his waist. It burned just slightly. "What..." He raised his shirt. Vampires weren't supposed to be able to be lastingly hurt, were they? With a glance at his skin, he noted that the area around where Ardyn had staked him was red and irritated. The wound itself had healed, but over it, there were a couple small raised blisters, too. He curled his lip. "How...?" he asked.

Prompto craned his neck to try and get a look at Noctis' skin, but when he couldn't, he stood tentatively and walked toward Noctis. "Oh," he murmured, frowning. "He used a garlic stake."

"Garlic stake?" Noctis asked.

Nodding, Prompto reached his hand down to touch the skin just above where the redness started. Suddenly, the itchiness and burning was the furthest thing from Noctis' mind. "A stake that's been soaked in garlic water and then dried out. Vampires in Niflheim carry them around," he explained. "They use them to incapacitate other vampires and stop them from taking... y'know, their meals." He flicked his eyes upward, meeting Noctis' again and tilting his head just slightly. "I think it goes away in a couple of days. Just try not to agitate it too much."

When Prompto straightened up again, he was right in Noctis' space. Just like he'd been earlier. Bright blue eyes, a little puffy from emotion, searched his once more. There was an unasked question in Prompto's expression, a silent plea, and Noctis had to turn his head and look away again. The silent plea was too much. He wanted to say yes. He wasn't kidding when he'd told Prompto that earlier. It wasn't fair to Prompto. He was so desperate for attention, for positive affirmation, that he was still willing to put his trust in Noctis. Even _after_ Noctis had been forced to freeze so that he didn't attack him earlier.

"Sunshine, you... you can't do this to yourself," Noctis said, turning his head to look back at Prompto. "Look at what happened back there. You tripped and fell, scraped your hand, and I had to completely freeze so that I-"

Prompto shook his head. "But then you didn't," he reminded Noctis. "You moved again when the chancellor showed up. You saved me again, and you were around me while I was _bleeding_ and you were okay!" His voice was rising with almost every word he said, and he glanced down at his hand. He turned his eyes back up to Noctis for a second, before reaching his hand down and placing it on the edge of the band aid covering his skin.

Noctis blinked incredulously. "What are you doing?" he asked, reaching a hand down to loosely grasp Prompto's wrist and stop him from uncovering the scrape.

But Prompto didn't stop. "Proving a point to you," he answered, grabbing the band aid, yanking it off, and tossing it to the floor.

Even before the slightly marred flesh came into view, Prompto's scent already got stronger against Noctis' nostrils. The scrape wasn't bleeding anymore, no, but the open path right to the blood beneath the skin made Noctis feel like a cartoon who was floating after the scent of a heavenly smelling meal. But he didn't make a move. "This isn't fair, Sunshine..." he whispered.

With a shake of his head, Prompto raised his hand. "But look. My skin is open. And you're not attacking me. You're not tense like you were before, you're not stone still like a statue, and you're around _open flesh_. Noct..." He reached the scraped hand up and placed it on Noctis' cheek. "Noct, I trust you. I know that if you have _any_ sort of control over your own mind, you'd never hurt me. You know how I know?"

"How?" Noctis whispered, his eyes falling closed as he enjoyed the warmth of Prompto's skin against his cheek. It was gentle and pleasant, like rays from the sun.

When Noctis opened his eyes again, he noticed that a lopsided smirk had crossed Prompto's face. "Because you're still letting me touch you," he pointed out. "With my hand that has open flesh. And you're not hurting me." He brushed his thumb along Noctis' cheek, down his jaw.

The smell was torture, but Noctis made no move to run away. He could have. Maybe he _should_ have. But he didn't. Still, just because he wasn't moving didn't mean that he couldn't talk. "It's more than just that, though," he admitted. But even as he spoke, he raised a hand and placed it on Prompto's waist, just above his hip. He didn't pull him closer, but he loosely placed his hand on top of Prompto's skin.

"What is it?" As Prompto spoke, he stepped back into Noctis' space again, right back to where he'd been earlier. Back to where his chest moved closer and then further when he breathed.

Noctis blinked slowly, meeting Prompto's eyes and saying, "a human. You should want a human, Prompto. Someone who's warm like you. Whose breath can hitch when you smile. Or whose heart can stutter when you laugh, or who can go to sleep next to you at night and wake up with you in the morning. Someone... someone who's alive." He knew that they'd been over this. He knew that Prompto seemed to think that Noctis was a different kind of alive. But he wasn't. He _wasn't_ alive, and Prompto was.

Once again, though, Prompto shook his head no. "That doesn't matter to me, Noct. Even if your breath can't hitch or your heart can't stutter, you..." One arm came to wrap around Noctis' shoulders, while the other hand was still against his cheek. "You still have this lopsided smile and this nervous laugh you make when someone embarrasses you. Or when you're happy, you have this little dimple right here." Prompto's thumb touched the corner of Noctis' mouth. It brushed against the front of his right fang over his skin, and the complete show of trust made Noctis blink in amazement.

After a few seconds, Noctis let his eyes trail down to Prompto's lips. "Prompto..." It was a gentle warning. His resolve was waning. Quite a bit, actually.

But Prompto wasn't shaken. "You're right. You're not breathing and your heart isn't beating. But you're human enough for me." He dashed his tongue out to wet his lips, and the flash of wet pink skin caught Noctis' attention. "If you don't want to... you don't have to. But... but if you want to..." He trailed off then, eyes meeting Noctis' and his front teeth raking over his lower lip.

In that second, whatever remained of Noctis' resolve crumbled down into a mess on the ground in around them. He pulled Prompto closer, flush chest to chest. Beneath his skin, Noctis could feel the pounding of Prompto's heart growing ever-faster. His blood rushed, and each breath Prompto took pressed their skin tighter together.

"Last chance to change your mind, Sunshine," Noctis whispered. And he equally hoped that Prompto did and didn't.

But Prompto didn't. Instead, he shook his head no and leaned forward, capturing Noctis' lips with his. And it was almost enough to make Noctis feel alive again. If his heart was beating, it would have stuttered. If he'd been breathing, it would have hitched. As it stood, he _felt_ it, from his head to his toes. Electricity. Warmth. _Happiness_. The animal was acutely aware of the blood rushing against the skin on Prompto's lips, but the human pushed it back into the corner, instead bringing his other hand up to rest on Prompto's other hip. 

When Prompto's lips left Noctis', he was smiling. Smiling with his _whole_ face. His eyes were still puffy with tears from earlier, but he looked... he looked _happy_ , and Noctis felt his own mouth quirking into a smile in response. His hands moved from Prompto's hips to hang loosely around his waist, hugging him gently, but the smile faded into uncertainty a moment later.

Noctis couldn't get past the feeling that Prompto deserved better than someone who was always fighting some kind of internal monster around him. Granted, that monster was securely locked into the corner of his mind right now, it was still ever-present and Noctis wanted to be absolutely sure that this was what Prompto wanted. Using his arms' position to hold Prompto gently in place, Noctis met his eyes again.

"Are you sure this is what you want, Prompto?" he asked, dropping the nickname in his seriousness.

But Prompto nodded, wrapping his own arms around Noctis' neck. "Yeah," he answered. "And... and I want you guys to come to Accordo with me." His voice was quiet, obviously not used to voicing his own desires. "I-if you want to, I mean."

Noctis blinked a couple of times. "You serious?" he asked.

Nodding, Prompto raked his teeth over his lip. "I am. You guys are, like, the only friends I've ever known," he explained. "I don't... I don't want you to take me to Accordo and drop me off and leave me behind. Please don't... please don't leave me there, Noct. I don't want to go back to being alone again." He swallowed hard, obviously nervous, and turned his eyes to look at the ground.

Alone again. That thought hadn't occurred to Noctis at all, but now that it had it was troubling that it hadn't. Prompto had spent so much of his life feeling alone and used. Of _course_ he didn't want to go right back to being alone in a new city, a _huge_ city. Noctis moved one hand from his waist, using it to turn Prompto's face so that they were eye to eye again.

Quirking a soft smile, Noctis promised, "I think I can talk to the others about that," with a secure nod. "And I don't think they'll have a problem with it, either." Even if, by some weird chance, they did... Noctis wasn't sure he'd be able to say no. Prompto's plea not to be left alone was absolutely heart-wrenching. Noctis didn't want him to be alone. No, Prompto would never have to be alone again if he didn't want to.


	12. Chapter 12

That very same night, Prompto had asked Noctis to lay in bed with him when he slept. The request was simple, so honest and genuine, that Noctis wouldn't have been able to say no even if he'd wanted to. Of course, the fact of the matter was that he _didn't_ want to. He'd walked into the bedroom with Prompto, laid down on the bed and let Prompto get comfortable.

Comfort, for Prompto, had entailed wrapping an arm over Noctis' stomach, his right leg over the top of Noctis' legs, and a hug so tight that Noctis was glad that he didn't have to breathe. Prompto's head rested against Noctis' chest instead of against the pillows, and it was hard not to smile the universe's biggest smile at how nice being completely enveloped in his warmth felt. It might have been a little creepy, but there was something so calming, so _nice_ , about watching Prompto fall asleep. When he'd been awake and aware, he had talked and talked, telling Noctis about some of the people he'd known in Niflheim—not friends, he'd said; all of the captives were too afraid to get close enough to call one another friend—and some of the people he'd met in his travels across Lucis. But as he inched closer to sleep, his words became far slower; far quieter.

Soon, he could barely get through a sentence without starting to nod off. It made Noctis smile a fond smile and comb his fingers through Prompto's hair, urging him closer to sleep. And when he finally did doze off, the only sound Noctis had to focus on was the sound of his breathing and the soft snores he gave off. It was even more endearing like this than it had been to hear it from the tent.

Ignis was right. Ignis was _always_ right, of course, but about this... Noctis would have to make sure to tell him that he was right. Even if it meant dealing with that insufferable smirk that he always gave when he _was_ right. It felt so good. Holding Prompto like this, watching the moonlight as it cascaded in through the window and lit up his skin—pale, but several shades darker than Noctis' own—listening to him falling asleep...

It really did feel like living again.

Of course, the harsh awareness was there that it _wasn't_ living, because if he was living, he wouldn't be able to do this to begin with. But right now, that mattered a little bit less. While Prompto slept, Noctis thought of Accordo, of Altissia. Everything Ignis had said had lauded it as even more of a paradise for the merging of vampires, werewolves, and humans than Lestallum. The idea of settling down and living in a place other than Lucis was something that, in his life, he'd never considered. He'd never really had the option. A prince had to stay in the country they ruled over. Now, though... he didn't.

Noctis turned to look out the window again, as the moon inched closer to the horizon. He wondered how Ignis and Gladio were doing, locked away in that room.

In his arms, Prompto stirred a little bit. A whimper crossed his lips, and he clung just slightly tighter to Noctis' body. Noctis turned sharply, watching for a second as his shoulders twitched. A soft sound, the combination of a plea and a cry, came out in a breath. Prompto squeezed his eyes closed a little tighter, burying his face against Noctis' chest a little bit more.

Noctis didn't need to be told what was happening. It was a nightmare. One about Niflheim, if the whispered plea for the chancellor to stop drinking from him was any indication. Noctis wasn't sure exactly what he should do. Did he wake him up, or did he let the nightmare run its course? Let Prompto either fall back to sleep or wake up naturally? Everyone had nightmares; Noctis had been through a few in his lifetime, back when he could sleep, too. But he always woke up with a start, sitting in his bed, clinging to the sheets and despondently trying to focus on reality, rather than remember the dream.

Was there a way to keep Prompto asleep? Clamping down on his lip with his front teeth, Noctis slowly raised a hand and combed it through Prompto's hair. Just lightly, with a soft and gentle touch. "It's okay, Sunshine," he whispered. "The chancellor's not here. You're safe-"

Before he could finish what he was trying to say, Prompto shot awake like a bullet. His eyes went from being shut as tightly as a vacuum seal to open as wide as saucers, and he clung to the fabric of Noctis' shirt with a force that gently tore the fabric at the hole Ardyn had put there earlier. "N-no!" he gasped.

Noctis could see the moment when awareness set in. He went from clinging tightly to Noctis, tearing his shirt ever-so-slightly with each tug on the fabric, to relaxing just slightly... to blinking into full awareness. Shortly after that, though, a flash of embarrassment settled in and he lay his head back down against Noctis' chest. "Sorry," he muttered against Noctis' skin. "Nightmares."

With a head shake, Noctis draped his arm loosely around Prompto again. "Don't worry about it. I kinda figured that out," he admitted with a soft but sad smile, turning his head to glance down at Prompto.

Prompto sighed and nodded. "They used to happen every night," he admitted. "Back in Niflheim. Except there, I'd wake up and I'd still kinda be in the nightmare, you know? When I left... the first one came at this little town called Taelpar. I was sleeping in the camper, and I dreamed that the chancellor drained me. Just completely drained me and left me there to die."

The fact that Prompto was so open with him was equal parts expected and not, but Noctis didn't mind. "I'm, uh... I'm glad he never did that," he admitted sheepishly. Of course it was a good thing. Prompto didn't need to hear that from him.

But the smile that Prompto flashed up at him suggested that maybe he did. "So am I, trust me," he agreed with a soft, sleepy chuckle. "If that ever happened to me... if I ever got drained like that, I mean? I think... I think I'd want to be turned." His voice was almost inaudible. If not for Noctis' vampiric hearing, he probably wouldn't have heard it. Prompto stared out the window.

"No... you wouldn't," Noctis shook his head no. "You shouldn't want this, Sunshine. You should... you're not this. You're _Sunshine_. Bright and warm and kind. You're not... you're not this."

Prompto shook his head no. "But it's better than dying. Like that. Or any way, really. But especially like that..." He moved up so that his back was against the headboard of the bed and he was sitting right next to Noctis. His hand came down between them to find Noctis', grabbing hold of it and lacing their fingers together.

Was it, though? Noctis eyed their twined hands in uncertainty. His hand was about ten shades lighter than Prompto's, and it made him sad. "You know," he murmured softly, turning his head to meet Prompto's eyes. "I wish I'd met you when I was human. I wish you'd made it to Insomnia, to the Crown City." He huffed a breath of humorous laughter. "I was so much more than this then."

Once again, Prompto shook his head no. "Don't do that. You're still more than that and you know it." He squeezed Noctis' hand a little bit tighter. "What were you like? In the Crown City, I mean? We talk a lot about where I came from, but I don't know much about you. Aside from that you're a prince," he mused.

Noctis breathed a laugh. "I mean, kind of rebellious, I guess? I snuck out a lot. Only once or twice after curfew, but once I actually snuck out of a tutoring session to go fishing when my tutor went to the bathroom and didn't come back until right before the sun went down. My dad wasn't happy about that, but I also remember that he wasn't really _mad_? I got punished, but never really as severely as a prince who skipped out on his lessons _should_ have been," he mused.

Prompto grinned. "Prince Noctis the rebel."

Smirking softly, Noctis shrugged and nodded his head. "Yeah, I guess."

"I bet you were Mr. Popular, though. Everyone wanted to be your friend." Prompto nestled back up against Noctis' side, relaxing against his shoulder again. "And you were a total Casanova too, weren't you?"

To that, Noctis laughed a hollow note and shook his head no. "I, um... I was kind of a loner, actually. Specs and Gladio were my friends. And Gladio's sister Iris and a couple of others. But I kept people at a distance a lot." He self-consciously brushed the tip of his tongue over his left fang, and shrugged. "My dad was busy a lot, you know. Being the king, looking out for the kingdom. I spent time with Specs and Gladio, but they were just as much subordinates as they were friends, so that was a little tough. Iris was a bright spot. Like a sister." He pondered his old friend, Gladio's sister, wondered how she was doing. Now she'd lost her brother, Ignis, _and_ Noctis. He wondered if she was okay.

Prompto frowned. "Oh," he murmured.

"Yeah," Noctis nodded. "And I... I dated. A few times. A couple girls, a couple guys. But nothing that ever really lasted. Not for a lack of wanting to or anything. But I imagine it had to be trying dating a prince." He chuckled softly, somewhat sadly.

He felt Prompto's hand on his cheek, felt and smelled the rushing of his blood, before he realized what was happening. Prompto turned his face, met his eyes and said, "you're worth it, Prince Charming."

Noctis grinned a little, glancing out the window at the sky as it started to brighten. The sun was on its way up now, which meant that Gladio and Ignis would be coming out of that room soon. "Easy for you to say," he mused. "You're with me when I'm not a prince anymore." There was the tiniest touch of bitterness, sadness, behind his words. An exiled prince. It was cliché as hell, but no less saddening.

Prompto shook his head again. "You're still the prince." He brushed Noctis' bangs from his eyes and shrugged. "I don't care about any of the technical whatever. You can't change who your father is. And you can't change who you are, either. I know I didn't know you before, but Ignis... Ignis told me that you're pretty much the same now as you always were. I'll tell you that you're still you until I'm blue in the face. And because you're you, you're still the prince. I mean, you fit the bill, right? Handsome, charming, kind, handsome... did I mention handsome? Because... handsome." His smile was flirty and sweet, and it made it hard to do anything but smile back.

Rather than responding with words, Noctis touched his fingertips to Prompto's chin and pulled him in for a kiss. It was tentative. He still wasn't sure how much he wanted to push this new boundary, after all. Touching his lips to Prompto's was one thing, but anything more than that was a little bit nerve-wracking.

It seemed like Prompto had no such qualms, though, because within the next couple of seconds, he felt the slightest brush of Prompto's tongue against his lower lip. He hesitated. Having Prompto's skin touching his was a test on its own. Kissing like this, with Prompto's tongue in his mouth, and the potential to brush against his fangs... that was something else altogether. Something that he wasn't sure about. Once again, though, it seemed like Prompto didn't have any worries. His tongue brushed Noctis' lower lip again and Noctis' will to refuse found itself melting into a puddle.

This kept happening. Noctis built up walls, both to protect himself and Prompto, and Prompto just smashed them to bits or melted them to the ground like they never really existed. He did, however, manage a muttered plea for Prompto to "be careful of... of my fangs."

Prompto nodded, before capturing Noctis' lips once more. Noctis opened his mouth and lightly brushed the tip of his tongue against Prompto's. Very, very lightly, Noctis picked up the taste of blood beneath Prompto's flesh, like the taste of tea leaves inside of a teabag or the slight flavor of an orange lightly detected in its peel. It was weak, but it was incredible. And the strong sense of _feeling_ that washed over him then, mixed with the fact that Prompto was trying to get impossibly closer to him, made him reach out and help Prompto move so that he sat over Noctis, with a knee on either side of his hips. Anything to feel more of that warmth against his body. Anything to have him closer.

"Ahem," a familiar voice—belonging to neither him nor Prompto—filled the apartment. "Terribly sorry to interrupt..." Ignis commented sheepishly.

A second voice, equally familiar, gave off a gruff chuckle. "Least they had their clothes on, Iggy." There was no remorse in Gladio's tone at all. "Would've hated to walk in to see them buck-ass naked." 

Noctis must have been... extremely into what was going on between him and Prompto, because even with his vampire senses, he didn't hear _or_ smell Gladio or Ignis' approach. But as he peered over Prompto's shoulder at their two friends, standing innocently in the doorway as if they hadn't just broken up... well, something pretty amazing, it was obvious that he'd been distracted enough to miss it. Prompto's whole face was as red as a tomato, and Noctis was _endlessly_ glad that he didn't have that problem himself anymore. However, he was sure that his face still showed how absolutely embarrassed he was.

"The door," he commented, as Prompto climbed off of him and buried his face in the pillow to cover the red. "Why didn't you knock?"

Gladio laughed a soft laugh at Noctis' expense and shrugged his shoulders. "We had no idea you guys would be taking part in wholesome sports activities in our absence or anything. Can't leave these kids alone for a night without things getting hanky-panky, Iggy." He nudged Ignis with his shoulder and ticked his eyebrows upward in amusement.

Though he seemed less amused than Gladio, Ignis was still half-smiling. "We'll knock next time. We just came to let you know that Gladio made it through the night, and ask how your night was, but it was obviously quite busy and-"

Noctis shook his head vehemently. "No! No, we didn't... we didn't do anything like that." Although, had they not come in when they did, it certainly looked like things were headed in that direction. Noctis adjusted his pants a bit when he stood, to prevent the others from noticing any interest that may have shown up. And by may have, he meant definitely. "We, uh..." He glanced over his shoulder at Prompto, who was sitting up in bed now, with his cheeks growing redder by the second. "H-how was... how was your night?" he asked, desperately trying to get the topic away from whatever he and Prompto may or may not have been about to do.

"Surprisingly not that bad," Gladio commented, his eyes on the ground as he spoke. "I mean... turning and turning back was painful. I still kinda feel it in a couple of my joints. But Iggy says that when I turned I was... calm? I don't remember it."

But Ignis nodded. "He was anxious at first," he explained as Noctis and Prompto stood from the bed and walked into the living room. "It was almost like I'd caught a domesticated wolf doing something that it wasn't supposed to and reprimanded it. He had his tail between his legs and...and a very ashamed expression on his face. But after awhile, I sat on the floor and he rested his head in my lap." He reached for Gladio's hand and entwined their fingers. "It wasn't nearly as bad as I read it to be."

Smirking sheepishly and rubbing the back of his neck, Gladio chuckled. "I mean, last thing I remember is putting the collar on my neck and wolfing-out," he admitted. "Then I wake up naked—without the collar on, too—with my head in Iggy's lap and him runnin' his fingers through my hair. My whole body hurt, but the room wasn't torn apart..."

Prompto smiled. "That's great, though, right?" he asked, sitting in the recliner and making himself comfortable. "I mean, now you know you can go with him when he goes to hide away and nothing bad will happen." He leaned his head back just slightly, a tiny bit of exhaustion leaking through in his features. It made sense. He hadn't gotten a lot of sleep before the nightmare had woken him up.

"Mmm," Gladio agreed. "Maybe next time he can bring a steak or somethin' with him though, because I am absolutely starving."

To that, Ignis laughed. "As subtle as ever, Gladio. Do you have food in your fridge, Noct?" he asked, turning his gaze from Noctis to the refrigerator.

Noctis nodded. "Yeah. Think there's a couple steaks in there, too. Think Sunshine was hoping you'd teach him to make that steak and eggs thing you made at camp." He turned his eyes to look back at Prompto.

Prompto nodded and stood. "I was!"

As Prompto walked toward the kitchen, Noctis' mind wandered a bit. To the previous night. To Ardyn and to the discussion about staying in Altissia with Prompto. To the garlic stake in his side and to the fact that not only had he been the one to turn Noctis, but he'd also been the one who had tormented Prompto all his life. He flicked his eyes back up to catch Gladio looking at him in appraisal.

"What's up, Noct?" Gladio asked calmly.

Noctis' responding sigh was deep and heavy, and he shrugged his shoulder. "We, um... we had an eventful night. And before you make any comments, _not like that_." His tone was serious, not inviting anymore questions about what he and Prompto had been doing before they barged into his apartment.

With a soft chuckle, Ignis nodded from the kitchen as he looked in Noctis' cupboard for any pans. There was one. One that Noctis had borrowed from them so that Prompto could make breakfast for himself a couple of mornings ago. He sighed, gathered the pan, and rolled his eyes as he set it on the burner. "Eventful how?" he asked.

After a deep sigh, Noctis glanced at the ceiling. How did he begin to explain what had happened? He started the story with Ardyn; explained to Gladio and Ignis that Ardyn had showed up in town, attracted to the scent of Prompto—or at the very least, Prompto's scraped hand. He explained that Ardyn was both the vampire who turned Noctis and the one who'd kept Prompto captive for his whole life. Then, how Noctis had to pick Prompto up and run away so that Ardyn didn't kill him take Prompto away again. He went on to explain that Lestallum may not have been as safe as it was before, with Ardyn in town.

"So, wait. The vampire that turned you is the same one who kept Blondie as... as a personal meal?" Gladio asked in horror.

Ignis scowled as he brought Gladio's rare steak and eggs over to him. "This chancellor is quite the scoundrel, it seems."

Chuckling a note of agreement, Noctis raised his chin. "Understatement of the century," he agreed, turning his light ring on his finger a couple of times. "Someone I'd like to see thrown into a fire pit and burned to ashes, more like." He ran his finger over the engraving on his light ring, and turned to look at Prompto as he stood in the kitchen, looking uncomfortable.

Gladio nodded. "Sounds it," he agreed, cutting a piece of steak on his plate. "So, what do we do from here, then? If he's after Prompto, it can't be safe for him here. Does this mean we go to Accordo sooner?"

And that left the big question. "Right. So, I was thinking." Put the credit for the idea on himself, so not to embarrass Prompto. "Maybe we should stay in Accordo—in Altissia—with Prompto when we bring him there. Both to keep Prompto out of Ardyn's reach and..." And. The only existing reason to stay in Accordo for _them_ was the fact that he didn't want to leave Prompto alone. Noctis' was far more personal, but... he didn't point that out.

As Ignis put the second steak onto the pan, he shrugged his shoulders. "I'd assumed that was the plan all along," he mused.

"Yeah," Gladio agreed through a mouthful of steak. "Didn't think we were just gonna drop him and leave him there. Only reason we were settling in here was 'cause you guys weren't ready to go yet. 'S why we only bought the bare minimum furniture, right?" he asked.

Behind the counter in the kitchen, Prompto smiled with his whole face. "You guys would really stay in Altissia... with me? For me?" he asked in amazement. Emotion lined his eyes, and he blinked and turned his head away to avoid Gladio and Ignis' gaze. Hesitantly, he met Noctis' eyes, though, and a sheepish smile crossed his face.

Ignis nodded and placed a hand on Prompto's shoulder. "We're friends, aren't we? Friends stick together." After a beat, he said, "I suggest we leave for Altissia tomorrow, though. Give Gladio's tired body a chance to rest, and us a chance to resupply for the trip."

Friends stuck together. Noctis smiled softly at that as he looked around the room at the faces of his three friends. Altissia. An actual vampire paradise. If they'd managed to adjust to Lestallum so well, it would have to be easier to adjust to Altissia, right? He smiled his gratitude to his friends and met Prompto's eyes again.

Noctis nodded. "Tomorrow, then." And hopefully, Altissia provided them with a place to really settle down.


	13. Chapter 13

Lestallum was quiet today. The decorations from the monthly Full Moon Festival still hung around the town and there was barely anyone outside. The normal businesses were open, which was fine, because it meant that Noctis and Ignis had free reign to walk around the stalls like they were set up just for them. The plan was to shop for food for Gladio and Prompto's cooler, then to hit up the blood bank, then to head back to the apartments to meet up with Gladio and Prompto, who were packing up the small amount of personal belongings they'd managed to collect since they'd gotten to Lestallum.

"I miss food," Noctis mused as he passed by a vegetable stall and eyed the merchandise. "Even beans."

Ignis laughed softly. "Do my ears deceive me?" he asked, an eyebrow arched in amusement. "Did the prince just confess to something other than utter detestation when it comes to a vegetable? And _beans_ , no less?" His smile was honest. Real. It was a relief to see that he was taking to being a vampire so easily.

Noctis rolled his eyes dramatically, staring up at the sky and huffing in annoyance. "Honestly, at this point, I'd take a tomato and bite into it like an apple if I could. That's how much I miss food." He quirked a smirk and picked up a small jar of green curry paste. Prompto liked green curry soup. He paid for it, as well as the other food items they'd picked up, and smiled sadly. "Does it ever bother you, cooking and not getting to eat it?"

Ignis responded with a shrug and a nod. "It does. I used to love sitting down to a meal with Gladio at the end of a long day." Now he was forced to just drink a mug of blood. "But before you get tragic about it," he teased, "I'm okay with how things happened now. The more I get used to it, the better it is. Without this, without my vampirism, I wouldn't be able to spend full moons with Gladio. I would have to grow old and watch Gladio stay young. Granted..." He paused to laugh a soft and bitter laugh, "I'll have to do the reverse of that now. On a significantly muted scale, but all the same." He watched as Ignis raked a fang over his lower lip.

It didn't help Noctis feel any better about the situation, of course. Sure, he could look at it in the same light that Ignis seemed to be able to; he could see the positive in the fact that Ignis could spend far, far longer with Gladio now. That was great. But that didn't change how it had come to be. That didn't change that Noctis had effectively taken away his right to _choose_ that life. But, if Ignis didn't want him to blame himself, Noctis would do whatever he could to quell the self-blame. At least aloud. He breathed in—all of the smells of the shops around them and some of the people running the shops entering his nostrils—and shrugged a shoulder.

"Leave it to you to find the upside about being a vampire," Noctis mused, half-smiling at his friend.

Ignis shrugged a shoulder. "It's not all bad. It's obviously not a walk in the park, but there are so many parts about my old lifestyle that used to be problematic that aren't now. Do you remember the nights that I spent awake reading, until I fell asleep at my desk in the palace? Nights when Gladio had to come into the room and wake me up, and when he did I had the world's worst muscle cramp in my neck and back?" The words were accompanied with an amused laugh.

Nodding a reply, Noctis chuckled softly. "Guess that's not a problem anymore, true. I do miss sleeping, though," he pointed out.

"Your love-affair with sleep was bordering unhealthy, Noct." Ignis smirked, in spite of the slight accusatory nature of his words.

Noctis laughed. "Hey. At least when I was sleeping I wasn't sneaking out. I was just telling Prompto this morning about the time when I snuck out of tutoring and came back at five in the evening. How not-mad dad was about it." He chuckled at the memory, though his expression went slightly sad when he thought of his dad.

Laughing fondly, Ignis nodded his head. "Your father was always soft on you. Clarus always told him that he needed to toughen up about it, but he never did. I think Clarus understood to a degree, though. He's never been terribly soft on Gladio, but Iris was very much another story. I don't think anyone was capable of being hard on her, though."

With a nod, Noctis shrugged his agreement. "Dad or not, if you were hard on Iris you'd pay for it somehow. Gladio'd see to that," he mused. "You think she's okay?" Since thinking of her that morning, Noctis found himself worrying about her quite a bit.

Ignis, too, frowned. "I wish I knew," he answered. "I can't see your father keeping it a secret from her, but having all three of us gone and not being able to see us again—not even being able to say goodbye, and not knowing her own brother's fate—I can imagine that's taken a bit of a toll on her." He adjusted his sunglasses and sighed softly.

The answer wasn't the one Noctis wanted to hear, but it was likely the truth. As he shifted uncomfortably, his hand brushed over the garlic rash on his waist and he lost the battle with the urge to scratch at it a bit. "Ah," he hissed softly. It didn't hurt, not really, but it was inconvenient.

"What's that?" Ignis asked, curious.

Noctis glanced down at his side and shrugged a shoulder. "It's from when we ran into Ardyn last night," he told Ignis, lifting his shirt to show the red skin. It was better than it was yesterday; the bubbles were significantly smaller and it had shrunk quite a bit, but it was still very much present. "Prompto explained to me that in Niflheim, vampires will soak stakes in garlic to keep other vampires from their meals. Ardyn, uh... had one of them. He used it." Obviously.

Ignis hummed thoughtfully, nodding his head. "I imagine that a hungry enough vampire wouldn't care, but at the very least, it's a deterrent. Perhaps we should utilize that with Prompto's crossbow," he suggested. "Soak the bolts in garlic water and let them dry." 

The conversation died down a bit after that. As they walked back toward the apartment, Noctis paused in front of one of the stalls. It had dozens of little odds and ends. Most of them were trinkets and silly things, but there was one that stood out among the rest. A small, black camera. Why, Noctis wasn't sure, but when he looked at it, the first thing that came to his mind was Prompto. Prompto had never really expressed any interest in photography before. He hadn't talked about much by way of his personal interests, other than learning to cook from Ignis and target practicing with his crossbow and the pistol. But something about the camera...

Ignis had stopped a couple of steps away, turned around, and was looking at Noctis with vague suspicion. "Everything alright, Noct?" he questioned, taking another couple of steps toward Noctis and glancing at the camera in his hand. "A camera? I wouldn't have pegged you for a shutterbug."

With a shake of his head, Noctis chuckled. "Not for me," he explained. "I was just thinking... Prompto. You know? He's always looking at all these places as we pass them. I thought that maybe it would be nice for him to have something to document them." He shrugged his hand with the camera, looking the other side over, too. It was digital and manual both, with a button on the top to differentiate between the two.

A smirk crossed Ignis' face as he placed a hand on Noctis' shoulder. "You're quite taken with him," he pointed out. Not a question. A statement. But then, after seeing what he'd seen that morning, there wasn't really too much _to_ question.

Or too much use in denying, probably. Noctis shrugged and nodded his head. "Yeah. I tried not to be," he admitted. "It's not safe. For either of us, really. When he scraped his hand last night, I felt like two different people at once. There was the side of me that wanted to... you know..." Shame had him casting his eyes back down to the camera. "But then there was the part of me that wouldn't be able to live with myself if I did. And somehow..." He trailed off.

Ignis picked up for him, though. " _Somehow_ , you managed not only not to bite him, but to kiss him. Give yourself some credit, Noct," he encouraged. "You're stronger than you think you are. And Prompto seems to be quite taken with you, too. He trusts you. He, a man who has been victimized by vampires for the entirety of his natural life until very recently, trusts you, a vampire. If he can trust you, perhaps you can trust yourself a little more?"

Lucky. That was literally the only thing on Noctis' mind right now, how lucky he was. To have Ignis, to have Gladio actually willing to forgive him for what he'd _done_ to Ignis, and to have Prompto. Gods was he lucky to have Prompto. He ran his tongue along his fang and shrugged his shoulders, pondering Ignis' words. Rather than answering them, he turned toward the shop clerk and smiled.

"How much is this?"

The camera had been well within Noctis' funding—though, Ignis had suggested that before they leave and while Gladio and Prompto slept tonight, they take on a couple of beast hunts to ensure that they had some money and didn't have to worry—so he'd picked it up and put it in its own bag to give to Prompto when they got back to their apartments. Ignis had adamantly suggested that he wrap it, but Noctis couldn't have been bothered. He was just going to give it to Prompto right away, so it didn't matter much. After a quick stop at the blood bank to restock enough to make the trip to Caem and then to Altissia, during which the woman in charge of the blood bank had lauded Altissia as a far better place for them than Lestallum, Noctis and Ignis returned home.

By the time they got back, Gladio and Prompto had moved on to packing up Ignis and Gladio's apartment. Ignis set to putting some of the food into the refrigerator, some into the battery operated cooler, and then used the last of it to simultaneously cook lunch and dinner for Prompto and Gladio. Sandwiches for lunch, and a roast for dinner.

Noctis approached Prompto, with the small paper bag in his hands. "Here," he spoke nonchalantly, offering it out to Prompto. "Saw this in town, and uh..." Finishing the sentence probably should have been easy. _I thought of you_ or _I thought you'd like it_ or something like that. _Something_. But he didn't say either of those things.

"For me?" Prompto blinked a couple of times, then stared at the still-closed bag in his hands.

The very real realization hit Noctis in that moment, that this could very well have been the first gift that Prompto had ever received. He nodded his head in two quick nods, and scratched a hand through his hair. "Uh... yeah," he stammered, then nodded his head yes. "I saw it and-" he paused long enough to clear his throat unnecessarily- "thought of you."

Prompto set the paper bag on the table and opened it, blinking a couple of times as he reached inside and pulled the camera out. "A camera?" he asked, blinking a couple of times.

With a nervous nod, Noctis glanced at the camera in Prompto's hands instead of looking at him and seeing the expression on his face. "Yeah," he answered. "I just... I was thinking of how you always like to stop and look at stuff we pass by. Like the waterfall and the other places you seemed so amazed by on our way here, you know? So, I thought maybe having a camera with you when we go to Altissia would make that even better. Because you can take pictures of the places we stop at." Still, his eyes weren't on Prompto. He couldn't bear to look and see whatever expression he was wearing.

"See?" Noctis continued, pointing at the little switch on the top of the camera. "You can take digital pictures or you can take the old style ones with film, but since... since I forgot to get film, you can-"

Prompto cut him off by setting the camera on the counter in front of him. He wrapped his arms around Noctis' shoulders and hugged him tightly. His hands gripped the back of Noctis' shirt tightly, and when he pulled back from the hug, he pressed his lips to Noctis' in a soft kiss. Gladio and Ignis were staring, probably, but Noctis couldn't be bothered to care. Prompto was hugging him and he was warmer than the sun he'd just felt outside. He felt his lips quirking into a smile in spite of the nerves that he was feeling, and he wrapped his arms around Prompto's waist.

Purple-blue eyes pierced right into his soul as Prompto leaned his forehead against Noctis'. "Thank you."

Noctis didn't get the chance to respond. A bright flash overtook the room again, and he turned his head to look, surprise lining his features to see that Gladio had Prompto's camera in his hands and had snapped a photo of the two of them hugging each other with their foreheads touching. He laughed a soft laugh. "Looks like you have your first picture."

Prompto laughed and nodded. "Best way to start, if you ask me," he pressed another soft kiss to Noctis' lips.

"Even if it is kinda like that jerky big brother at a birthday party, playing with all your toys before you get a chance to." Noctis smirked at Gladio, who offered the camera back out to Prompto.

It didn't seem like Prompto minded too much, though. He turned the camera over and immediately started toying with the settings. It was amusing, honestly. He maneuvered the buttons and the settings like he'd been a photographer in a previous life or something. Before Noctis even had a vague awareness of what was going on, Prompto lifted the camera and snapped a picture of him, catching him completely off-guard. And that was when the fun started. Everything in the apartment—from the meal that Ignis was making to all of the boxes stacked in the corner, to several shots of Noctis and Ignis and Gladio—was fair game. Prompto seemed to be enjoying himself, almost going so far as to ignore the sandwich that Ignis had prepared for him.

At one point, Noctis had actually had to stop him, reassure him that the camera would still be there later. He finally sat and ate, still toying with a couple of settings on the camera as he devoured his sandwich and fried potatoes faster than Noctis had ever seen him do before. And then, right after that, it was right back to snapping photos of everything again.

Noctis couldn't help but laugh a little bit as Prompto wandered over to the window and took a couple of shots of the Lestallum skyline from outside of Ignis and Gladio's apartment. The factory. The shops. The clouds... basically everything that he could possibly see. Before Noctis could stop himself, he'd walked up behind Prompto and wrapped his arms gently around him from behind. "You like it?"

"I do!" Prompto nodded, leaning back against Noctis.

From the kitchen, Ignis cleared his throat. "I hate to break up the moment," he commented.

"Again," Gladio snickered from beside him, earning a gentle tap to the arm. "Ow! Hey, I'm not wrong!"

Ignis sighed softly and shook his head no. "You're not. But I think we should discuss our immediate plan. If we want to get to Altissia, we'll need a boat. We have two options," he told them, holding two fingers up to them. "We can either go to Cape Caem and hope that they have a personal boat, or go a slightly longer route and head to Galdin Quay. The papers tell me that the ferry is back up and running again, so we can safely get on one of those. As long as one of us is always with Prompto when we're there, because we can't risk running into any of the imperials searching for him." He peeked into the oven, pulled the roast our and brushed some of the juices onto the top of it.

Gladio shrugged a shoulder. "A safe chance versus a risky sure thing. Kinda a weird situation," he mused.

"What do you think, Specs?" Noctis asked, sliding his hands from around Prompto's waist but capturing his hand before he stepped away. He guided the pair of them to the chair in the middle of Ignis' living room and sat down, pulling Prompto onto his lap. It was funny how tactile he was being about this whole... thing that they had going on. But the warmth of Prompto's skin was intoxicating, and it didn't seem like Prompto minded.

After a thoughtful hum, Ignis answered, "I think we should risk the Quay. The risky sure thing will get us to Altissia faster. Which, with the chancellor out there-" he gestured toward the window- "always watching us, is likely for the best. If we go to Cape Caem and there are no boats, then it's two more days on the road to get back to Galdin Quay from there."

Prompto nodded his head. "I think I'd rather go to Galdin Quay too, if that's okay?" he asked.

Noctis was kind of pleased that he'd started interjecting his opinions and feelings into the conversation. It meant that he was feeling comfortable. "Yeah, of course. Any reason?"

With a nervous lip bite, Prompto shrugged his shoulders. "I took a private boat to get from Accordo to Caem. Some guy in Accordo named Weskham directed me to a refugee boat for people like me who'd escaped, but... but it's a well-known escape route to the empire," he explained. "And the whole time, I knew that the chancellor and his people were right behind me. I just... I know they're looking for me, and I don't want to spend the whole trip worried that-"

"That's okay," Noctis reassured him, wrapping an arm around Prompto's waist. "Hey, it's okay. We'll go to Galdin Quay. It's no problem."

Prompto smiled a weak smile and leaned against Noctis, making himself comfortable. "Thanks," he said softly.

Gladio nodded his agreement. "'Sides that, it'll give us a chance to restock before we hit the boat. I know Noct and Iggy just restocked in town, but two days is a long time. And who knows when the next ferry'll be when we get there, y'know? It's once a day, but we don't know exactly when, so what if we get there right after it leaves and hafta wait another day for it to come back?" He stepped closer to Ignis.

"Yes, Galdin Quay seems like a better plan all around, even if we'll have to be on our guard the whole time we're there." Ignis started packing away some of the cooking utensils that he wouldn't need to continue making dinner.

And then it was to Altissia. Noctis had to laugh a little bit to himself. Whatever he'd expected from this exile when he and Ignis had initially been sentenced to it... settling down in Altissia definitely wasn't it. But tomorrow, they were setting off to do just that.


	14. Chapter 14

Galdin Quay was even more gorgeous than Noctis had imagined it to be. The concerning thing, of course, had been that Gladio was absolutely right. They got to town _right after_ the ferry took off, and it didn't come back until the next day. They had blood left, they had a bit of food left, but waiting in a town that, last Noctis knew, was crawling with imperial vampires? It was nerve wracking for a hundred thousand reasons. Prompto was nervous for a multitude of reasons, even more so thanks to the fact that the group really couldn't afford to get a room at the hotel.

The caravan was small and unpleasant for the four of them, and because of that—mixed with the starry night outside—Gladio and Ignis had offered to stay at the nearby camp, and allow Noctis and Prompto to stay in the caravan themselves. The walls would block out Prompto's scent, Ignis had said. And it was definitely a good point. 

Noctis filled his thermos with a warmed up pouch of blood and watched as Prompto filtered through the day's photos. Ever since Noctis had given him that camera, he'd spent each and every day taking pictures of everything they passed. Even if they didn't stop—which, thanks to the tight schedule they'd been on to _get_ here, they hadn't done much—he took pictures of everyone in the car. There were several shots of Iggy, some of Gladio, _many_ shots of Noctis, and even a few selfies. He'd snapped a shot of Hammerhead when they passed, musing that he was endlessly grateful for it because it was where he'd met the group, and even taken a picture of the campsite where they'd stayed on that first night.

Prompto was just as sentimental as Noctis was, maybe more, and Noctis loved it. He walked up behind the blond, breathing in the pleasant smell of cinnamon and sunshine as he glanced over a tuft of unkempt blond hair and down at the camera. On the screen was the picture that Gladio had taken of the two of them in Lestallum when Noctis had bought Prompto the camera. Noctis wasn't fond of his appearance now—a thousand shades too pale with dark hair that made it all the more obvious—but with Prompto, how good the two of them looked together, he found himself needing to complain less. Odd how that happened.

Noctis slid into the seat beside Prompto and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "We could get that framed, if you want," he suggested. "When we get to Altissia. We can go to a one hour photo place, get it developed and hang it on the wall of whatever apartment we end up in." He took a long pull from his mug and relaxed a bit as the feeling of the blood's nutrients spreading through his body flowed through him.

Nodding in response, Prompto turned from the picture to Noctis. "Yeah!" he exclaimed, excited. "Maybe we could get the ones I took of Ignis and Gladio done, too. Give it to them as a present."

To that, Noctis couldn't help but smirk. Thoughtful to a fault. He nodded his head and tightened his arm around Prompto's shoulders, pulling him close. "Sounds good," he answered. They'd like that. Despite—or maybe due to—being the more serious of the pairs, Gladio and Ignis were still endlessly sentimental about things, too. When they'd been home in Insomnia, they'd visit the place they first met on every anniversary of that day. They had a song together, they'd had a favorite meal... all the things that couples did.

Though Prompto leaned into Noctis, his eyes turned toward the window and stared out at the water. "Galdin Quay is so romantic..." he murmured softly, leaning his head on Noctis' shoulder.

"Yeah," Noctis agreed, following Prompto's eyes out to the shoreline.

Prompto sat up, grinning at Noctis. "When I passed through here the first time, I wanted to walk on the beach at night," he pointed out. "But I couldn't, because I was alone, you know? And because there were imperial vampires everywhere and..." He trailed off, the lack of words swirling around in the air and forming an unasked question that Noctis could almost hear.

Walking on the beach at night, while endlessly romantic and something that Noctis never thought that he'd be able to do being locked away in Insomnia, was dangerous in a place like this. They hadn't really seen any imperial vampires—or at least none that were obvious in their imperial leanings, not that things like that could be obvious—but they were fully aware that they were there, hiding in plain sight. The danger was obvious. Still, the way that Prompto was looking at him, eagerness and excitement in his eyes, it made Noctis want to cast aside all logic and reason and give Prompto whatever he wanted in the world. He deserved happiness. Deserved to be able to live like a normal human lived. Normal humans took walks on beaches at night with their... whatever Noctis was to him. Right? And it wasn't like Noctis wouldn't be able to protect him if anything happened. Noctis would gladly turn to dust, if it meant that Prompto got to live another day.

Noctis weighed the options for a second, running his tongue over his fang as he thought. "Do you still want to?" he asked, deciding to urge Prompto to tell him, instead of just letting his mind wander and make assumptions.

A nod of confirmation was all the answer Prompto gave, but it was really all the answer that Noctis needed. He probably shouldn't have, but he got to his feet and offered his hand down to Prompto. "Come on. We should be okay if we stay away from town. And only for a couple minutes. Enough for you to get some pictures."

Prompto took his hand with a smile. He got to his feet and pressed a kiss to Noctis' lips, before starting toward the door and tugging on Noctis' hand. "I was walking around during the day here before, and I found this really nice spot with a perfect view of the horizon," he pointed out as he opened the door to the caravan. "I wanna get a couple more shots of you, too." Squeezing Noctis' hand, surrounding it with that warmth that he'd grown attached to, Prompto turned around and smiled.

"Don't you already have about a thousand shots of me?" Noctis asked as they started toward the beach.

If Prompto answered, Noctis didn't notice. Not really, anyway. From the corner of his eye, he spotted someone staring their way. A human—Noctis could barely pick up the scent of his blood in the parking lot about a hundred or so yards away; another of those repulsive smelling people like the woman at Hammerhead—watched them closely. He wasn't a hunter. He was dressed far too nicely to be a hunter, anyway. A designer—albeit pretty damn gaudy—suit and tie (Ignis, who was into _actual_ designer suits, would have scoffed and called the skinny, bright blue necktie an abomination; Noctis could almost hear it), and too-perfectly coiffed platinum hair, did _not_ scream hunter to Noctis. But he still seemed singularly focused on Noctis. Or Prompto. One of them.

Maybe that should have been enough to make Noctis stop and turn around. But one person—a person who didn't even give him the feeding instinct, no less—wasn't going to stop him from giving Prompto what he wanted. Still, he watched over his shoulder as they retreated toward the beach. The man stared, craning his neck to get a closer look, then took out a small pair of engraved binoculars. Noctis decided to block Prompto from view, taking a sidling step to walk behind him.

Prompto's eyes were on him, concern lining his features. "Should we, uh... should we go back?" he asked.

Noctis shook his head no. Whether they should have or not was irrelevant. The guy in the suit was staring after them, so going back to the camper would do little but give him a clear path to locate them. Instead, Noctis ran his fang over his lip in thought. "Hold onto me," he told Prompto, leaning down and reaching beneath his knees. He scooped Prompto from the ground and took off in a sprint. Prompto held tightly to his neck, and he kept running until they came to a small cavern in the rocky crags that walled the area.

There were several beasts in the distance—not close enough to raise an internal alarm or anything—but they were still close enough to the beach for Prompto to get his pictures. He set Prompto on the ground, before turning to glance over his shoulder at the Quay. He could still see the lights of the restaurant and hotel, but the chances that the man with the suit and tie and platinum hair still saw them? Well, Noctis highly doubted that he could see _that_ well.

"Is everything okay?" Prompto asked, taking a seat on a nearby rock.

Noctis pondered the situation carefully before answering. Was everything okay? "It's... I'm not sure," he answered. "There was this guy. A human. Smelled terrible." He wrinkled his nose. "But, uh... he was watching us. Took out some of those gaudy old style opera binoculars, you know? And stared at us. I didn't want to go back to the caravan, because he'd've known where we were then, and whatever he's after, I'm not sure if it's any good."

Prompto went quiet, eyes focused on the sand beneath his feet. "Do you think he was a hunter?" he asked.

Answering with a shake of his head, Noctis turned to look back toward the horizon. "I don't think so. If he was, he was off-duty. Gaudy designer suit, hair oiled higher than Ignis', and did I mention the _opera binoculars_?" he mused, turning and glancing over his shoulder at Prompto with a grin that mocked the man.

The laugh that Prompto gave in response made Noctis smile. "I guess you're right," he murmured.

Noctis turned back around, walking to take a seat next to Prompto on the rock. The warmth of Prompto's skin pressed against his. "Besides, he doesn't matter right now," he pointed out, his lips curling into a warmer smile. "I mean, it might not be the spot you wanted to go to, right? But we're on the beach and you have your camera, so..." He nodded his head out toward the skyline. "Snap some shots, Photoboy." Except, even though his words suggested that he get up and take pictures, his eyebrow twitched upward in a non-verbal question as to why he wasn't doing it already.

With a smirk, Prompto shrugged. "I could," he answered, turning his torso so that he was facing Noctis on the rock. "Or I could do that later and we could, you know, do something else with our time instead."

A little chuckle escaped Noctis' lips, and he watched as Prompto maneuvered his body slightly so that it was in Noctis' space again. It spoke volumes, how accustomed he was getting to that cinnamon and sunshine smell. It was still difficult sometimes, still hard to fight with that side of him, but for the most part, he allowed himself to appreciate it for how pleasant it was. Now was one of those times. Prompto leaned in, capturing his lips again in a soft and gentle kiss. Noctis breathed a laugh against Prompto's lips, and pulled him so that he had a knee on either side of Noctis' hips again. Just like the other day on the bed, except this time... this time there would be _no_ interruptions.

Prompto smiled down at him, eyes twinkling devilishly. "What is this, a romance novel?" he teased. But despite his tone, the expression on his face held absolutely no complaints. Absolutely no objections.

"Maybe," was Noctis' only verbal reply, as he reached a hand up and slid it along Prompto's neck. As Prompto's body gave the tiniest little quiver in reply, Noctis hesitated. The raised bumps under his fingers reminded him that maybe, Prompto's neck was a sensitive area. Ardyn's vicious treatment had probably left some mental scarring alongside the physical. He cringed his fingers like a crumpled piece of paper, moving them from Prompto's neck, and eyed him in apology. "I'm-"

Prompto shook his head no, though, and reached one arm up, pulling Noctis' hand back down to touch his neck. "I like it..." he whispered in Noctis' ear.

The motion, while intimate and hot as hell, put the other side of Prompto's neck very, _very_ close to Noctis' lips. He could feel the pulse beneath his skin as the crook of Prompto's neck brushed against the tip of his nose, and it made several conflicting feelings leap up into Noctis' heart. Two different kinds of want. Two different kinds of need. But overpowering both of those was something stronger. Something that, in this moment, was alarming that his heart could even find it within itself to feel. With all of the want and need and temptation swirling around in an overwhelming tornado, the strongest thing that Noctis was feeling in the moment was a staggering sense of _love_. The type of love he'd never actually felt before, but always wanted to.

When Prompto turned to looked Noctis in the eye again, Noctis put his hand back down against Prompto's neck. He brushed his fingers along the freckled and scarred skin, and used his other arm to wrap around Prompto's waist and pull him closer. Their bodies close, Noctis tilted his head upward, catching Prompto's lips once more.

As his lips opened and his tongue brushed against Prompto's, however, something unpleasant hit his nose. Something that he'd just been smelling moments ago. It crept around the aroma of cinnamon and sunshine and while Noctis tried to ignore it at first, in order to continue what they were doing and ignore any chance for interruption... each passing second saw it getting closer and closer. Prompto was completely unaware, though, as he started to pepper open-mouthed kisses along Noctis' jaw.

Just when the unpleasant odor—almost like charred sauerkraut—reached its peak, Noctis was almost blinded by a camera flash from the open mouth of the cave. The sound of a camera shutter followed shortly thereafter, and Prompto and Noctis broke their contact, turning sharply to stare at the source of the sound. The further Prompto got from him, though, the more the smell of burned sauerkraut took over and it made Noctis' upper lip curl against his volition.

The man from the parking lot craned his neck to get a better look at Noctis and his eyes widened. "Well _whaddaya know_?" he blinked hard. "It _is_ you! Crown Prince Noctis of Insomnia!" The man's voice was heavily accented in a way that Noctis couldn't recall ever having heard before, and a sleazy smile crossed his face.

Noctis didn't reply, other than to narrow his eyes and help Prompto get down from his lap with his feet in the sand. That didn't stop this guy—whoever he was—from walking closer. "And are those... they _are_! Fangs! I knew it! HQ told me I was nuts, but I knew it!" He raised his camera again, turning the zoom button and catching a close-up shot of Noctis' face. "When those imperials kept talkin' about the prince bein' one of them, I wasn't sure if I was just hearin' things or what, but it looks like I-"

"Who _are_ you?" Prompto finally asked. "And what gives you the right to-?"

The guy stopped Prompto before he could continue. "Dino Ghiranze. Lead reporter for the Lucian Invader." He extended his hand to Noctis, who ignored it, then to Prompto, who also ignored it. "Wait. Hold the phone a second here," he paused, looking Prompto over. "You ain't a vampire. You're a _human_. And ya got bite marks all over you." He raised his camera and snapped a picture of Prompto. "So, you _are_ one of them. Keepin' a blood slave and everything! Oh man, this is gonna make a _hell_ of a scoop!"

Prompto shook his head no. "That's not-"

But Dino didn't seem to care. "Where's the other vampire? And the werewolf? The hunters kept sayin' that there was two of you, and a wolf, keepin' Stockholm kid here captive." He pointed nonchalantly at Prompto.

With a shake of his head, Prompto interjected, "they're not keeping me captive!" with his eyes narrowed. "And he's not one of them! He's keeping me from them, actually! So, how about you let us talk, instead of making assumptions and deciding that you're right without getting answers?" He sounded angry, protective in a way that Noctis had never seen him sound before. He stood in front of Noctis in the same way Noctis had stood in front of him earlier, blocking Noctis from the camera's view.

Noctis was surprised, of course, though he was still mortified. "Prompto, you don't-"

But Prompto shook his head no. "It's okay," he insisted. "You protect me all the time, let me do it for you." Taking a couple of steps forward, he glared at Dino. "I could call the police, you know. Have you arrested for harassing us when we were just out here minding our own business. So, it'd probably be better for you if you just deleted those pictures and forgot about running that story, 'cause you..." His voice trailed off, like he was trying to come up with a threat, but he couldn't.

"That's interesting and all," Dino mused, waving Prompto off, "but I think I'd be a lot more threatened if there wasn't about fifty imperials and hunters lookin' for you all over Lucis. Some of 'em are back in town there, even. It'd be a real, real shame if they all got wind of the fact that you were here in Galdin, wouldn't it?" He smirked wryly. "So, here's what's gonna happen. You're gonna let me run this story." He shook his camera in his hand. "'Cause if you don't, those imperials and those hunters're gonna find out that everything they're lookin' for is way, way closer than they think. You can either buy yourself some time to do whatever you're trying to do while you're here, or have to do it immediately. Your call, _Prince Noctis_."

The calm disgust that Noctis had been feeling melted down to the ground, and in its place came a solid wall of rage. A solid wall of rage that pushed rationality into the corner of his mind and brought the furious animal side back out again. He was on his feet in a split second, around Prompto and in front of Dino— _right_ in front of Dino—eyes narrowed and lips curled into a furious scowl.

"So, for some _scoop_ ," Noctis snapped, "you'd turn a human over to a bunch of imperial vampires who want to turn him back into a _slave_?" His voice echoed out into the silence around them, and he grabbed the camera out of Dino's hand and effortlessly crushed it in his own, the plastic and metal pops providing the tiniest bit of satisfaction in the midst of the wall of fury. He dropped the crushed piece of plastic to the ground.

Anger flashed across Dino's face. "My camera!" he snapped, and then turned his attention back to Noctis. "How is what you're doing any different? You're keeping him for a blood slave, aren't you? Just using different ways to get the blood, if what I saw when I walked over here was any indication." Forget that Prompto had just pointed out exactly how it was different moments ago.

Before Noctis could even open his mouth to speak, though, Prompto had brushed past him, hands balled into fists at his sides. He didn't speak at first, just raised his balled fist and punched Dino square in the jaw. Dino recoiled with a gasp, but before he could even speak, or come up with any sort of retort, Prompto spoke up instead. "Don't you _dare_ compare him to them! You have no _idea_ what it's like over there!" Now _Prompto's_ voice was a surprisingly dangerous rumble. New. Something Noctis hadn't heard before.

It made sense, though. Because he was absolutely right. There was no way that Dino could have possibly known what it was like to have lived the life that Prompto had lived. If he did, then there was no way he would have walked across the gods damned beach at night to approach a vampire. And who knows how many _other_ vampires were out and about in the Quay. As if summoned by his thoughts, he spotted Ignis and Gladio running over from the nearby haven.

"That was a _huge_ mistake!" Dino seethed at Prompto, touching the back of his hand to his jaw. "Any chance that I wasn't going to share this just went out the-"

Noctis stepped forward—not in front of Prompto, but _beside_ him instead—and shook his head no. "No. What'd be a huge mistake would be to continue that sentence. That punch hurt, I bet. But imagine how it would feel if _I_ punched you," he seethed, curling his lip again, flashing his right fang and balling his fist to accentuate his point. Vampire strength would hurt far, far worse, no question. "Not to mention them." He pointed behind Dino. 

Gladio and Ignis appeared on the other side of Dino then. Gladio's arms were crossed at his chest, and while not making any sort of showy gesture, Ignis peered at Dino from over the frames of his sunglasses in a wordless threat. When Dino looked over his shoulder, he blanched, blinked a couple of times, and then turned to look back at Noctis.

Ignis glanced over to Noctis in question. "What, exactly, is happening here?" he asked.

With a nod, Gladio tilted his chin at Dino. "And who's he? Why'd we see Prompto deck him?"

Noctis sighed. "Dino. A tabloid reporter. He saw me back at the Quay and followed us here. Threatened to turn Prompto over to the empire if we didn't let him run a story about Prompto being our blood slave," he explained. "We explained to him twice that it wasn't like that, but he didn't listen. So-"

Taking a step toward Dino, Gladio's eyes narrowed on his face. "So, what you're tellin' me, is that they told you to back off and you didn't," he asked Dino.

Blinking, Dino turned his attention from Gladio to Ignis, then back to Gladio. "The imperials said-"

"The _imperials_ ," Ignis interjected, "have never been known for their honesty, Dino. Perhaps you should consider that, and consider that you would be destroying _four lives at the same time_ , while you consider what type of story you want to run." After a beat, he approached Dino from the other side, giving Gladio a look that wrought of 'I've got this handled.' "Now, if you would like to run a story about how Noctis isn't as dead as the newspapers would have you believe? Then we'd be happy to give you some quotes for that."

Gladio nodded once. "But, y'know, _only_ that story. 'Cause if we catch a hint that there's more to that story there? Then I can _assure_ you that we won't be able to stop Noctis from punching you with all of _his_ strength. And you want that even less than you want _me_ to punch you right now. Clear?" he squeezed Dino's shoulder a little tighter than was necessary.

Dino's voice came out in a croak. "Crystal..." he answered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the takedown and reup, guys! A couple little point outs from a couple of readers (thanks, anon Lucius and [thewolvesrunwild](http://archiveofourown.org/users/thewolvesrunwild/pseuds/thewolvesrunwild)!), I decided to alter the ending to this chapter a touch!
> 
> As always, thanks to [nicoleiacross](http://archiveofourown.org/users/nicoleiacross/pseuds/nicoleiacross) and [IntoThePensive](http://archiveofourown.org/users/IntoThePensive/pseuds/IntoThePensive) for helping me recover and figure out a way to middle ground it so that I could avoid too much bloodshed!


	15. Chapter 15

Admittedly, even though Dino had agreed to run a story to inform the world that Noctis wasn't as dead as people thought he was, and _also_ agreed to leave Prompto and Niflheim out of the situation, Noctis was still feeling anxious. They'd all agreed to lay low in Galdin for awhile, to read Dino's story when it came out and ensure that he kept his word.

Or rather, that he kept the word that Ignis made him take.

Ignis and Gladio had been far less than impressed with the whole situation. They'd spent the rest of the night—up until Gladio and Prompto both started falling asleep at camp, and Noctis carried Prompto back to the caravan, anyway—complaining about how _stupid_ Dino had been to walk across the beach in the middle of the night. Noctis had sort of gone on an angry tangent about how the 'awful smelling, weird accented, asshole' had been so willing to sell Prompto to the imperials for a story, then proceeded to gush with pride to Prompto about how amazing it was when he'd punched Dino square in the face. _"It just made me so mad,"_ Prompto had said, _"that he dared to say that you were anything like them, no matter how many times I told him that... that you're not."_

Admittedly, even though Noctis had never drank from Prompto—and never would if he had any control over the situation—there was still a touch of worry that someday he'd end up like that. Maybe he'd lose control someday, like he had with Ignis or with that hunter; like he _almost_ had with Prompto in Lestallum, and not be able to stop himself.

It was easier to ignore that now, though, as he lie beside Prompto while he slept in the caravan's bed. It was day two now, laying low in Galdin Quay. When Ignis had spoken to Dino yesterday, he'd said that the article they agreed on would be in today's Invader. That meant that after reading it to ensure that it wasn't slanderous and didn't include anything they'd asked him not to include, it was finally time to leave for Altissia. It felt like they'd made this plan eons ago, but it had really only been a couple of weeks in the grand scheme of things. But today, they were finally leaving. Leaving to start over again in Altissia, together.

He smiled as Prompto stirred slightly in his arms. It wasn't the stir of nightmares, either. It was simply a stir of someone just waking up, and he tilted his head to look up at Noctis, yawning a tired yawn and smiling a smile that was almost enough to warm Noctis from the inside out. "Morning," he murmured softly.

"Sleep well?" Noctis asked, carding his fingers softly through Prompto's hair to ease him into wakefulness.

Prompto murmured an affirmative reply, curling in on Noctis a little more and burying his face in Noctis' shirt. "Had a good dream, too," he commented. Against Noctis' skin, he could feel Prompto's mouth curling into a smile. "'Bout Altissia." The words were murmured against Noctis' skin, but the breathed words against his pectoral muscle felt warm. Nice.

Noctis curled his arm around Prompto, pulling him closer and smoothing pale fingers up and down his bicep. "What about Altissia?" he asked, glancing down at Prompto as he released his grip on Noctis' shirt and turned to look back up at him again.

A bashful smile crossed his face. "We had this apartment. One bedroom. Ignis and Gladio next door. And we could get up to the roof. So, the sun goes down one night and we go up to the roof. And you tell me that you l-" He stopped abruptly, his cheeks turning pink as he looked down and back out the window- "uh. That you... wanted to dance with me. There's this band playing on the sidewalk, and we dance until they stop playing."

"Explains why you were hugging me tighter at one point," Noctis mused. "We'll see what we can do about making it a reality once we get there. Altissia's a big city, right? So, there has to be an apartment building somewhere that's got two vacancies and a roof we can stand on." And if there was anything he could do to help Prompto find reality from his better dreams? Well, he'd do it.

There was an honest smile on Prompto's face, and Noctis could see that there were words hiding right behind his lips. But rather than speak them, he stretched languidly and disentangled his body from Noctis' slowly. After pressing his lips to Noctis' for a brief second, he placed his feet on the floor of the caravan and stretched his arms up over his head with a grunt of approval. "I wonder if I can make that steak and eggs that Ignis has been trying to teach me."

Noctis nodded. "I bet you can," he answered, walking over to the fridge and pulling out a blood pouch, then Prompto's steak and eggs. "I mean, last time, you almost did it yourself, right? He kind of watched over your shoulder, but you did it all yourself and he didn't even really have to direct you." He gathered a pan and a spatula, handing them over to Prompto and nodding securely.

Prompto smirked bashfully and accepted the pan and spatula from Noctis' hands. "I think I'll probably still prefer it when Ignis cooks it, though," he admitted, walking over to the small stove and starting it up.

"I always felt the same way," Noctis answered with a soft chuckle. "Of course, that was different, because I was blessed with the innate ability to burn water. And I'm not being over-dramatic or anything. Ignis told me to make pasta once, and I ended up falling asleep on the couch while the water was boiling. Ignis came over to cook the pasta sauce after a meeting with my dad and the pot was actually on fire on the stove." He chuckled softly. "And I was still asleep."

As Prompto walked over to the fridge to grab the butter, he laughed softly. "Ignis was telling me about your passion for sleep. How once, you slept for twenty-four hours straight." The smirk he cast over his shoulder at Noctis was fond.

Shrugging one shoulder, as well as his lip, Noctis half-smiled. "He likes to tell that story. What he always fails to mention is that I'd been cramming for an exam for just as many hours before that. My brain was literally at its wit's end," he answered. "I don't know how you do it. Willingly wake up before noon, I mean. I almost had to be forced every morning."

Prompto shrugged, glancing at the pan as he slid the spatula under an egg. "Part of it is because I like waking up next to you," he admitted. "The rest of it is..." The smile wilted from his lips, as he sprinkled a tiny bit of salt and pepper onto his eggs. "Routine, I guess. The chancellor—Ardyn—" His expression showed how strange it was to refer to the man by his name- "would do morning feedings every three days at seven in the morning. It was either... be awake for them or, you know, he wakes me up by..." His free hand came up to touch his neck.

Before Noctis could stop himself, he'd slid up behind Prompto and wrapped his arms around the blond's thin waist. Prompto leaned back, pressing his back against Noctis' chest, and tilted his head to the side to look him in the eye. "I'm okay now," he promised with a gentle smile.

Noctis nodded. "And he'll never touch you again," he vowed, leaning over to kiss Prompto's lips.

Prompto half-smiled as he turned his head back forward, then leaned down to peel the plastic coating from his steak. He tilted his head just slightly, his neck on display to Noctis, accidentally taunting him just like he had been at the beach the other night. Daring himself, vowing internally not to hurt Prompto, Noctis leaned his head down and peppered soft, closed-mouth kisses to Prompto's skin. The freckles, the scars, all of the rest of the flesh, too. Noctis could feel Prompto's pulse quickening just slightly beneath his skin, and even though he swore not to do any harm, the animal screamed in the corner of his mind. He pushed it back.

It was easier to do, too, when Prompto let out a soft, approving sigh. "If you keep doing that," he breathed, "we're not going to leave this caravan until after the ferry leaves."

Noctis laughed softly against his skin, pressing his lips to the skin just below his ear. The pulse thrummed even harder there, and Noctis pulled back from his skin, raking his front teeth over his lip. "You're probably right," he whispered with a soft laugh. "Either that or Ignis or Dino would show up just when things were heating up." It had happened every time they'd gotten close to doing anything.

As if summoned by his words, a rhythmic knock hit the door of the camper, and Prompto and Noctis shared a less-than-amused laugh. Or Noctis', at least, was less than amused. "Called it," he murmured, slowly unwrapping his body from Prompto's.

Prompto nodded and reached into the pack Ignis had given him for a few spices to put on his steak. "Someday we'll get some private time," he murmured. "Maybe." He sprinkled some seasoning onto the pan, and the whole camper started to smell like something Noctis would have absolutely loved if he was human.

When Noctis opened the door, it looked like Gladio had picked up on the scent, too. "Prompto cooking?" he asked.

Noctis laughed. "Hi to you, too, Big Guy," he commented, his eyes wandering from Gladio to Ignis, who stood just behind him. Holding the tabloid in his hands.

"Gladio, honestly," Ignis commented, half-exasperated. "You ate already."

Gladio scoffed. "I wasn't sayin' I _wanted_ any. Just that... it smells good. Y'know?" he muttered, scratching the back of his neck and stepping up and into the camper when Noctis got out of the way.

With a soft chuckle, Prompto shrugged. "I can make you another one, too, if you want," he offered. "Or you can have this one, and I can make me another one."

Glancing over Prompto's shoulder, Gladio shook his head no. "It's alright. That one's uh... too cooked, anyway." He sat at the table, stretching his back and watching as Ignis leaned against the wall. "Besides, we came here for a reason." He nodded his chin up at Ignis.

"Did Dino keep his word?" Prompto asked, his voice a little bit nervous as he slid his steak onto his plate.

Ignis nodded. "He did, actually," he answered. "And went a step further. He actually did what he could to throw the empire from our intentions to go to Altissia. According to this article, we're 'traveling Lucis, trying to be the poster boys of inter-species relations between vampires, werewolves, and humans.' He called it an olive branch." Offering the magazine out to Noctis, he ticked a shoulder up in a shrug.

Inter-species relations. Noctis had to laugh a little bit at that, but he glanced at the page that Ignis had been looking at. The approved photos, all from Prompto's collection, were a much nicer touch than splaying his relationship with Prompto—whatever it was—all over the pages of some tabloid. It was notable that he hadn't kept Prompto out of the situation altogether, but Noctis couldn't remember if they'd requested that to be part of the agreement. In hindsight, it would have been wise, but it was too late now.

"Look at that, Sunshine," Noctis pointed out, tapping the pictures on the page. "You're a published photographer. Maybe you should ask for royalties."

Prompto laughed at that, leaning sideways against the counter and cutting into his steak. "I think Dino not plastering things about you being a slaver on the pages of this tabloid is enough payment for me," he murmured through a mouthful of steak and egg.

To that, Ignis laughed a hollow laugh. "Now, though, there's nothing keeping us from the ferry when it comes in," he mused, sliding across the crowded camper to settle in next to Gladio.

Admittedly, Noctis was hesitant to feel optimistic. An air of foreboding overcame him as he glanced out the window toward the shoreline. Sure, the empire didn't know that they were going to Altissia anymore. But that was assuming they'd be willing to trust a tabloid. They may have been ruthless, but they weren't necessarily stupid. And while they may not have followed them to Altissia anymore, there was still a risk—a certainty, even—that they were still hanging around outside the camper, all through the Quay. Still, he had to hope that they managed to get to the ferry in one piece.

The next couple of hours were spent looking over Altissian apartment listings, then gathering their personal items from around the camper, what little they had; though Prompto shared Noctis' tendency to throw clothes wherever they landed, so the small space was kind of messy. Then, at quarter to noon, when they saw the ferry pull into port, they headed out to board and leave.

It didn't take long for Noctis to put himself on high alert. Perhaps it was because outside of the ferry, there were very few people in town. During the day, Galdin Quay was usually somewhat busy. People on the beach, or at the restaurant, enjoying their day, preparing to head for cover when night fell. Today, though... today it was almost barren. The closer they got, too, the more Noctis realized exactly what was wrong with the situation. The five or so people who were out and about weren't humans. He exchanged a glance with Ignis and Gladio, who seemed to have caught on to that fact, too. Prompto looked between them in confusion and concern.

"Whatever happens, you just go straight to the ferry," Noctis said to Prompto, his tone leaving no room for argument.

Gladio countered with, "we _all_ go straight for the ferry," casting Noctis a glare.

Honestly, though, the only thing that really mattered to Noctis was that Prompto got there. Safely, and in one piece. Still, he didn't call attention to that; didn't call attention to _them_. It didn't matter, though. The vampires—Noctis didn't recognize any of them, but that didn't mean that they didn't recognize him, of course—watched them like silent hawks as they walked through the establishment. Even the normal chef and bartender—a kind woman named Coctura—was gone, replaced with a taciturn looking vampire who glared at them as they walked through.

Placing himself squarely in position to protect Prompto, he picked up their step with an arm around Prompto's back to keep him on pace.

Behind him, he sensed movement before he saw it. Three of the five vampires in the room were on their feet now, walking casually up behind the group. Noctis positioned himself behind Prompto, stating without speaking that they'd have to go through him if they wanted to take Prompto away. All of these vampires must have had light rings, Noctis realized, because the sun was high in the sky and they were still absolutely fine. It made sense, in an unfortunate way. The empire was rolling in money. They could easily afford them. It made him wonder, though, why they hadn't attacked in the daylight before now.

It didn't matter. Because right now, they were.

They'd closed the distance considerably by the time Noctis and the others reached the dock. Prompto crossed the small bridge to get onto the ferry first, then Gladio next. And the imperials still closed in; closer and closer. Noctis didn't move for a few seconds after Ignis climbed into the ferry. A hand closed around his shoulder—Ignis', not Prompto's—and started pulling him across the wooden ramp. But if the imperials ended up on the ferry with them... if they had to fight on the ferry and it sank somehow...

Noctis was almost on the ferry. Almost. And his plan wasn't so much planned as it was improvised. After tugging at Ignis' hand a couple of times, he turned to look at Prompto. "I'll catch up, Sunshine. I promise," he said, tossing the bag over his shoulder onto the boat. And in the next second, he'd summoned his sword, thrown it at the vampire at the front of the pack, and warped to him.

"Noct, what the hell are you doing?!" Gladio shouted from the ferry.

Prompto, too, called out to him. "Noctis, don't!"

As soon as he impacted, he pulled his feet up to the other vampire's chest, kicking out and yanking his sword out with the motion. He took out a fira flask with his other hand, made sure that no one was in his path, and tossed it back toward the ramp up to the ferry, blocking Prompto, Ignis, and Gladio into place and ensuring that the imperial vampires couldn't get onto the ferry. At least not the standard way. Ignis, who had been advancing, stopped in his tracks.

Either alarmed by the fire or because the clock was striking twelve, the operator started the ferry and took off. Ignis, Gladio, and Prompto hurried toward the back of the boat, and it almost looked like Ignis was going to jump into the water. "Protect him, guys!" Noctis shouted to his friends before he could jump. "I'll catch up!"

Ignis stopped then, shooting Noctis an unimpressed glare. But he nodded once in acknowledgment, and moved to hold Prompto back from jumping off the ferry as well. Prompto shouted for him, his voice echoing out through the relatively empty Quay and shaking Noctis to his very core. Guilt leaped up, and he forced himself to turn back toward the vampires, who were just now collecting themselves after Noctis' kick pushed their leader into them.

He warped past them, throwing another fireball toward them once he landed. It struck, hitting the vampire in the front of the pack and igniting him. All five vampires were paying attention to him now, which was exactly what he wanted, but it occurred to him in the moment that he didn't have much of a plan beyond getting their attention away from Prompto. He backed up a few sharp steps, ensuring that each of the four—five; the fire had slowed the vampire he'd hit, but not completely stopped him—vampires had their attention on him. They did, and they were all advancing.

So, Noctis took off in a sprint. A couple of cursory glances over his shoulder told him that the imperials were chasing him, which was good. That was what he wanted. But it occurred to him now that he had absolutely no idea where he was supposed to go from here. Out of the Quay. He knew that much at least. He passed the camper, glancing over his shoulder to ensure that they were still following him.

They were. And not only were they following, but the leader had a crossbow raised with a wooden stake inside.

His first shot missed Noctis by a mile, but it did serve to warn Noctis that he needed to run faster. He jumped up to a high rock, then used the rock to jump up to the cliffs overhead, glancing over his shoulder once more to ensure that he was still being followed. He threw out another fira flask, hitting the last three vampires in the pack and slowing their pursuit a bit. The remaining two surged forward still, following Noctis up to the cliff side. Another wooden crossbow bolt shot forward, this time narrowly missing Noctis and causing him to trip over an errant root.

He picked himself up quickly, but the distance between the pursuing vampires and him was significantly shorter now. And he was down to his last fira flask.

Before Noctis got to full speed, he threw his last magic flask out and made contact with the vampire without the crossbow. His pursuit stopped for a time as the fire burned at his skin, but Noctis still had one last pursuer to shake. The crossbow-wielding vampire shot out another bolt, which made contact with the back of Noctis' shoulder this time. The garlic stake burned, and he hissed a pained sound, but didn't stop running.

Away from cities. Hopefully, away from campsites. He conjured his sword again and warped into a nearby tree to put more distance between him and his pursuer. But the other vampire was relentless. A second warp helped him to evade taking a bolt to the back, but another shot hit him in the shin. With no time to stop and remove them, he was forced to warp with them still in his skin. A third warp put him at the top of a tall marble colosseum-style ruin. Before he could move to warp again, though, a flash of fire magic came seemingly out of nowhere and impacted with his pursuer, knocking him off his course.

"Noctis!" a familiar female voice—one that he hadn't heard in person in over a decade—called out to him. "Down here!"

The familiar voice was attached to a familiar face, and Noctis blinked in amazement. "Luna!" Not just Luna, but alongside her a man—or was he? He had the familiar rotten meat and wet dog smell of a werewolf—that Noctis didn't recognize. Noctis leaped down from the top of the colosseum, watching as the werewolf shot another fira out at the vampire who'd been chasing Noctis.

As the vampire staggered out of the fire, Luna surged forward with speed that could only mean one thing, and plunged a stake into the pursuing vampire's heart. Noctis stared after her, wide-eyed, watching as the imperial vampire turned to dust.

"Luna, what-"

The werewolf interrupted Noctis. "Not here. There're more vamps coming," he explained.

"I know," Noctis answered. "They're chasing me."

Luna turned back toward Noctis and the werewolf and said, "come with us, then. Nyx and I know of a place to hide and shake them."


	16. Chapter 16

Luna was a vampire. Lunafreya Nox Fleuret, one of his oldest friends; one of the kindest people he knew, was a vampire. The whole situation was incredibly surreal to Noctis, and very difficult to face as he looked at her right now. She'd always been like a sister to him. When they were younger, she'd been a role model. The very depiction of what a future monarch was supposed to be. She was intelligent; a warm, kind, gentle individual. She was still all of that—albeit not warm in the physical sense anymore—but now she wasn't a butterfly under glass in Tenebrae anymore. Now, she was a vampire. Like him.

Noctis wasn't sure of the circumstances behind her being turned or anything, but it was absolutely astounding to him that she was a vampire. As they hid in a small shack to regroup, Noctis allowed Luna to pull the stake from his back. The imperials were still searching for him; Noctis smelled them until they closed themselves in the shack outside of Longwythe Rest Area, but it was likely that Luna and Nyx's scents were confusing them a bit as well.

Luna handed the stake to Nyx, and turned to look at Noctis as Nyx put the stake in his shoulder pack. "I had heard rumors that you weren't dead," she explained, settling down next to Nyx on the opposite side of the shack and examining Noctis with a relieved smile. "I'm glad they were true."

A bitter laugh was Noctis' only response. "Technically, at least," was his only answer at first. He crossed his right ankle over his left knee, then reached down to grab hold of the stake that stuck out of his skin. He yanked it out, and handed it over to Nyx like Luna had before.

"Keep it," Nyx answered. "Never a bad idea to have one."

Noctis nodded in acknowledgment and scanned himself for a place to put it, settling on sliding it through his belt. "I thought you were missing. Dead," he said to Luna. "Dad said that you disappeared from Tenebrae like... five years ago..." Maybe more. Closer to ten, honestly, if memory served.

Luna's expression darkened a touch, and she heaved a sigh. Nyx opened his mouth to speak, but she stopped him with a hand on his shoulder and a weak smile. "It's okay," she told him. "I can tell Noctis." A steadying breath, however unnecessary, and she turned back to Noctis with sadness lining her eyes. "I suppose to most people, I did disappear. But the reality of it is... the empire took me. Ravus tried to convince them not to, but since he was turned so young, many of them still see him as a child and didn't listen." She pushed some hair that had fallen from her ponytail behind her ear, and folded her hands in her lap. "I was there until about two weeks ago."

"Wait... you were..." like Prompto, "they made you a..." blood slave, "but you don't have any..." Scars. That was what he was trying to say. He motioned over his neck and shoulders, his mind wandering to Prompto and how he had as many scars as he did freckles, almost.

She shook her head. "They disappeared when I turned," she explained. "I had a lot, though. There were a few others with more than me, but I was one of the preferred types of a rather voracious vampire named Loqi. Some weeks, he would come in once a day, but other times it was once every three days." Closing her arms around herself, she glanced at the floor.

Nyx wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close, allowing her to rest her head against his shoulder. "I found her in Caem a couple months ago. She was still human," he explained. "And she isn't exaggerating. There were a lot."

"How did you... how did it happen?" Noctis asked Luna. It was a dangerous question. Noctis didn't like to talk about his _own_ situation. Judging by the expression on Luna's face, hers wasn't any pleasanter than his was. "I mean... you don't have to answer me if you don't want to. I know it's not a good thing to remember. I'm just-"

She shook her head no, sitting up straight again and smiling a sad smile at Noctis. "It's okay," she told him. "I'm... I escaped the empire with the help of this mysterious woman dressed in black. No matter where I went, I couldn't shake my imperial tail. I went home to Tenebrae, but an imperial vampire named Iedolas Aldercapt was running the place, and he had people there to intercept me, so I kept running. I thought to come to Lucis. That your father could offer me refuge of some sort. So, I took a refugee ferry from Altissia. When I arrived in Caem..." She paused, turning to look at Nyx and sighing.

"It was the morning after a full moon," Nyx continued for her. "She found me at this campsite off the coast, totally naked and fresh from shifting. Helped clean me up and everything. Almost left her, but I saw all those scars on her neck and shoulders, figured out what she'd been through, and I decided I couldn't. So, I promised to help get her to Insomnia."

Noctis nodded. It didn't explain how she'd been turned, of course, but it did explain how these two had met.

Before he could ask, Luna continued. "We made it to Cauthess," she explained, "a month or so ago. That was where we ran into Ravus." Her eyes focused on her hands as she steepled her thumbs. "I hadn't seen him in... in so long. Since before the empire took me. And before that, since I was a child. When he was first exiled. So, I barely recognized him. At first, it was quite surreal. Like I was a child again, face-to-face with my older brother. Except he appeared at least fifteen years younger than me."

Exiled. Ravus. Fifteen years younger than her. Each of the words flashed through Noctis' mind like someone was flipping flash cards. Ravus was exiled. Ravus was a vampire. Ravus was... a child. "Ravus..." he murmured. Ravus, the vampire who'd been with Ardyn the night Noctis had been turned. Did this mean that...

Luna nodded her head yes. "His eyes were black," she explained. "Later I learned that black eyes mean that vampires—that we're—frenzied. That we're uncontrollable. So, I choose to believe that it was a miracle that he stopped at all, rather than focus on..." She shook her head sharply, further disallowing herself to focus on the negative thoughts.

"It's not," Nyx sneered. "It's not a miracle. It's fucking horrible, actually." He turned to look back at Noctis. "Her own brother. If I hadn't shot him with a garlic stake to the shoulder, he'd've killed her."

Noctis frowned, nodding his hesitant agreement with Nyx. "It is horrible."

Sighing, Luna shook her head. "He did stop, though. And rather than just leaving me to die, he turned me." Her expression was uncertain, though. Noctis understood. "That's what Nyx told me, anyway. While I turned, he drove me to Lestallum, and got me everything I needed for when I woke up. Except this-" she mused, twisting the light ring on her pinky finger- "Ravus gave me his. Or rather, he told Nyx to give it to me when I woke up." Her expression was sad, undoubtedly weighed down by the thought of her brother.

"Wow..." was all Noctis could think to say at first. Luna's own brother had turned her. He'd almost _killed_ her.

Truthfully, Noctis had never met Ravus before, when he was human. When he and Luna had met as children, it was likely after Ravus had already been turned and exiled. He vaguely remembered overhearing mention of a second Nox Fleuret child back then, but the conversation had been shushed just as quickly as it had come up, and Noctis was rushed away. Now he understood why. He frowned and glanced at Luna. "It still doesn't change what he did, though," he answered.

Nyx nodded his agreement. "That's what I said."

"It _also_ doesn't change that he's my brother," Luna insisted, her face stern but sad. "He was frenzied. He wasn't in control of his mind."

Noctis went quiet, staring at his hands and thinking back to the night that he was turned. Ravus—if it was the same Ravus—was very much in control of his mind that night, when he'd led Noctis into that back alley to what would inevitably be his death. But he didn't know if it was the same Ravus, and even if it was, he didn't want to upset Luna by mentioning it. Noctis didn't have any siblings, but he could imagine that there was a different kind of loyalty when you did; one that made you want to look past things like what Ravus had done to Luna or the fact that he might have been a monstrous creature.

The silence lasted several seconds in the small shack, before Luna spoke up again. "What about you?" she asked. "What happened when you got turned?"

Pulling in an unnecessary breath through his mouth, filling his chest, holding it, then letting it go in a huff, he shrugged one shoulder. "It was back in the Crown City. I was out too late," he answered. "And..." He paused, running his tongue over his fang and trying to quickly decide how much detail he wanted to give Luna, especially since he was pretty sure that it directly involved her brother. "And it was this team of two vampires. One was this imperial chancellor named Ardyn-"

Luna blinked. "Ardyn? He was in the Crown City?!" she asked, shocked.

Right. Luna had been with the empire, so it was likely that she knew Ardyn. He nodded once, solemnly, and glanced across the shack at her. "I'd wondered why he was there before, but between you and-" He glanced down at his hands again, worry lining his features as he thought of Prompto- "and Prompto—I'll tell you about Prompto la-"

"Prompto's okay?!" Luna was on her feet then, her hand on her mouth as relief washed over her features. "By the Six, I was so worried about him when I left. I pleaded with the lady in black to go back for him, because, Ardyn always..." She trailed off for a moment, then continued again, "but he's okay. She did go back for him. He's okay, and you found him. Oh, Noctis, I... I'm so relieved! Where is he?"

Noctis chuckled a bitter note. Luna knew Prompto, then. Of course she did. "On the ferry. On his way to Altissia." 

Tilting her head to the side, Luna sat back down next to Nyx and bit her lip. "You sound distressed about this," she pointed out.

To that, Noctis nodded. "I mean... yeah. I was supposed to be on the ferry with him," he explained. "I've been with him ever since I found him. We've been protecting each other. But..." Shaking his head no, he steeled himself and looked back at Luna. "I left him with Ignis and Gladio, and got those imperials to chase me, so that they didn't get him." Noctis knew, of course, that Ignis and Gladio wouldn't let anything happen to Prompto. But he already missed the feeling of the warmth of Prompto's skin on his skin. Of Prompto's hair beneath his fingers. Of Prompto's lips against his.

"You're worried about him." Luna's words weren't a question, but that was okay. Because if they had been, they'd have had an obvious answer.

Noctis nodded. "Ardyn has been chasing him. If they chase him to Altissia and find him... I know Gladio and Ignis won't let anything happen to him, and Prompto can defend himself, too. But I just want to... I want to be with him."

Awareness crossed Luna's face then, and she blinked at Noctis twice, smiling softly. "Oh. Oh, you want to... I see!" She nodded her head in understanding.

Glancing at the floor sheepishly, Noctis shrugged one shoulder. There was no use in lying to Luna, anyway. "Yeah. I mean... he's been through so much. Ardyn's hurt him for so long, you know? I just want to be there, to make sure that he can't hurt him anymore. And... I don't know. He just takes all of those sad feelings, everything that's happened to him in his life, and instead of letting them turn him into this scared and shaking coward, he's brave. And somehow, he's able to surround himself with a pair of vampires on a day to day basis without being terrified of them." Of Noctis.

Luna smiled warmly. "Sounds like we need to get you to Altissia, then, doesn't it?" she asked, then turned to Nyx. "If you don't mind, I mean. I'd very much like to see Prompto again, and to see this alleged paradise that is Altissia." Her eyes were gently pleading.

The chuckle Nyx gave in response was kind and amused. "It's not like I can leave you alone for a second anyway, Princess." He paused, and then turned to Noctis with a soft chuckle. "And Prince. Gods, it's almost like I'm a member of the Crownsguard again." He laughed a soft and bitter laugh.

"Crownsguard?" Noctis blinked. "You were-"

Nyx nodded. "Yeah. But you wouldn't know me. It's been about ten years," he explained. "My team and I were out with a couple members of the hunter's guild, doing a favor for your dad. Trying to find the reason for the increase in werewolves outside the Crown City. Insomnia'd never seen an influx like that before, y'know? Back then, we went from a dozen known werewolves to hundreds. One of them shifted inside the city and some of the big names panicked, so they sent us out to get answers. Had to go out on the full moon, of course."

Honestly, he didn't even need to finish the story. Noctis knew where it was going.

Still, Nyx continued. "I found 'em alright," he chuckled bitterly. "Or. You know. They found me. Us. They ended up killing my whole team, except me." As Luna reached a hand to Nyx and placed it supportively on his arm, Noctis nodded a single nod of understanding.

"And they turned you..." he commented arbitrarily.

Nyx nodded. "Yeah. Couldn't go back to the Crown City after that. Or, well… I could've. Tons of vamps and wolves still live there. Or else how would you have been turned, right? But... at the same time, I couldn't. Didn't want to risk hurting anyone. You know?" He shrugged one shoulder in a solemn shrug. Just as quickly, he shook his head and puffed out a breath to steady himself. "But that doesn't... that doesn't matter right now. What does matter is that in order to get you two to Altissia, we're gonna have to dust some imperials. There's still four out there. The big one's taken care of, and we've got his crossbow."

Noctis was curious, at least a little bit, about Nyx and the Crownsguard. He remembered hearing something about an incident where his dad lost a whole crew of Crownsguard soldiers. Five had been the number, if memory served. He was young, and back then, his dad had insisted on keeping things like that from him. But now, knowing what he knew, it just made him sadder. The influx of wolves had only grown since then. He'd heard mention each year that the number was growing, and it had obviously grown enough that Gladio got attacked by an entire pack.

He didn't look that much older than Noctis was. A little bit, sure. But not _that_ much. How long did werewolves even live? He knew that their life spans were longer than a human's—much, _much_ longer than a human's—but not how long they actually lived, or if and how they aged. A few years. His curiosity deepened, but it didn't look like Nyx wanted to talk about it, so instead he glanced at the crossbow in Nyx's hand. Maybe he'd ask more later. For now, though, Nyx was right. The important thing was getting them to Altissia. Getting back to Prompto. Back to where they could protect each other again.

"You should take the crossbow," Noctis told Nyx. "Pick them off before they can get close to you. Are you a good shot?"

Laughing a single note, Nyx nodded his head. "I'm a damn surgeon with one of these, Prince Noctis."

"Just Noctis is fine."

Nyx nodded once. "Noctis, then. You worry more about you than me. Pretty sure all four of them are in the area around us, so we'd better make quick work of them before they decide to make a snack of anyone in Longwythe." He stood from where he'd been sitting, brushed some dust from his pants, and then held his hand down to pull Luna up from her seat.

Noctis found himself slightly jealous and missing Prompto a bit more as he watched Luna flash a warm and affectionate smile at Nyx, then brush her hand up and down his arm tenderly, but all the same, he picked himself up from where he sat and headed for the door.

As soon as they got outside, four very powerful smells assaulted his senses, overpowering the smells of the people walking around Longwythe. Luna immediately headed west, likely going after the vampire off in that direction. Nyx went east, toward the closest scent, and Noctis found himself wondering for a second if it was because werewolf senses were weaker than vampire ones. But he didn't let himself think on it for too long. Instead, he went toward the southern scent. Both of the last two vampires were in that direction, but Noctis could easily take them both. And he had some revenge to take, anyway.

Dashing at top speed at the sound of the pair of vampires, Noctis summoned his sword as he ran. He warped to the top of the lines of piping that stretched through the whole of this region. Longwythe Peak was in the distance, and he could just barely see Hammerhead, too. But in his periphery, he picked up exactly who he was looking for. Both of the imperial vampires were together, and they eyed a pair of travelers whose car had broken down on the side of the road a little ways away. Noctis, of course, didn't need to be told what their intentions were there.

The first vampire; a young man who likely outweighed Noctis by double, turned his head over his shoulder and looked around. Not toward Noctis; he'd picked up Noctis' scent but hadn't pinned it down, most likely. That was good. He warped away from the piping and to a rock in the distance, standing atop it and watching as the two vampires followed the sound to where he'd initially been standing. From this new vantage point, he warped to the nearest vampire, his sword impacting with the back of his shoulder with a deafening crack. Using the distraction to his advantage, Noctis took the stake from his belt and plunged it right into the vampire's back. It sank in, and Noctis could immediately identify when it impacted with his heart, because the vampire puffed into a cloud of dust and sent him to the ground in a heap.

When he looked back up again, Noctis blinked a couple of times to see the second vampire ascending on him with a stake in his hand. "The hell have you been _hiding_?" he asked.

Noctis didn't answer immediately. Instead, he warped to the piping again, putting some distance between himself and the other vampire so he could formulate a plan. The other vampire, though, didn't stop his taunts. "You know. You may have distracted _us_ , but we have eyes in Altissia, too. No matter where you go, we always have eyes there."

No matter where they went. That gave Noctis pause, but with a frustrated growl, he warped forward again, toward the remaining vampire. The vampire dashed out of the way in time, though, and Noctis hit the ground with a thud. He felt a foot impact with his side and flip him over, and when his eyes focused again, he spotted his attacker's arms high over his head with the stake in hand. Before he could lower it, though, a loud whistle echoed out through the area around them.

A wooden stake flew through the air and impacted with the imperial vampire's hip, eliciting a hiss of anger as he turned toward the source of the attack. Nyx stood there, the crossbow raised and loaded with a second shot. Luna surged past, hurrying to warn the two travelers of the danger, and Noctis pulled himself to his feet. The imperial vampire, realizing that he was outnumbered, just laughed a hollow note.

"So, you have another pet dog too, huh? What is it with you species traitors and collecting stray dogs?" he sneered at Nyx.

It was all Noctis could do not to laugh. Not at his words or anything, but at how he was backed into a corner and resorting to useless chides in an attempt to divide them. Nyx didn't seem affected, either. He just snorted a laugh and shrugged his head to the side. "Funny how a cornered idiot will get desperate, isn't it, Noct?"

Noctis didn't respond, though. While the other vampire was focused on Nyx, he closed the short distance between himself and the vampire, using one hand to drive the stake into his back. "I'm not going to rest until I've toppled your whole damn empire. Make no mistake," he growled into the vampire's ear. "Every last sick and twisted thing that you loved about your unlife is going to be _finished_." And with that, he pushed the stake further into the other vampire's skin and felt a sense of vindication when he turned to dust.

It was in that moment that Luna returned. Noctis didn't take any time to rejoice in their victory, before turning to his two friends and announcing, "we need to get back to Galdin. Now." Because if this information was to be trusted, Prompto wasn't as safe as Noctis had hoped he was.


	17. Chapter 17

Of course, it wasn't as easy as 'get to Galdin.' Not even close. Noctis wasn't sure if this was just a new normal that he was getting used to, but when they got back to the cliff side that he'd first jumped up when retreating from the imperials, he wasn't even remotely surprised to pick up a very strong vampiric scent coming from the shore. It wasn't a pleasant or familiar smell like with Ignis or Luna. It was strong. Overpowering and dangerous. Upon smelling it, Noctis edged a bit closer to the face of the cliff to scan the beach and see if he could find who was giving it off.

It didn't take long at all to find the culprit. There were several people walking around again; innocents going about their day to day and rushing to prepare for sundown, which was right around the corner. Coctura was back behind the bar again, and the restaurant greeter was right back at his post. Most everyone was going about their business. Except, down the beach and next to the haven, something looked off. A person. A _familiar_ person—all blue skinny tie and gaudy suit and platinum hair—was cornered by two vampires. One of the two vampires was equally familiar, too. The old and wrinkled face of Iedolas Aldercapt reminded Noctis of the first night that he'd met Prompto and it made a surge of anger course its way through his body.

Luna seemed to have a somewhat similar, yet very different, guttural reaction to the sight of the other vampire. A blond man who didn't look to be too much older than she was, with red tinted eyes. Noctis remembered having red eyes once before, between feedings when he hadn't had anything to eat in awhile. Luna regarded the blond with wide-eyed horror, and turned to look away in shame.

"That's him..." she muttered to Nyx. "Th-that's Loqi."

Noctis didn't even have time to react, or even to ask, before Nyx was on his feet, jumping over the edge of the cliff, hitting the ground with a dull thud, and taking off in a run. His crossbow was out and at the ready, and he fired a shot toward the two vampires as Aldercapt slammed Dino into the raised rock of the haven. After sharing a look with Luna, they followed Nyx's lead. Yes, Nyx may have had enhanced healing capabilities, but that didn't mean that he wasn't in a mess of trouble against a pair of vampires. Especially since one of them was hungry.

By the time Noctis and Luna caught up with Nyx, though, Loqi's attention was on him with a disgusted smile. "A dog," he mocked in a stage-whisper, leaning over to Aldercapt and huffing in annoyance.

"Indeed," riposted Aldercapt, laughing a glib laugh. "A dog with terrible aim. And one who appears not to be alone." He dropped Dino to the ground, where he landed in a heap in the grass. "Well, well. Prince Noctis. How lovely to see you again." The smile that spread across his face in that moment was annoyingly derisive, and it made Noctis want to surge in front of the others and take him out right now.

If that hadn't done it, the leer that Loqi gave to Luna when his attention was called to her would have. "Lunafreya," he called out, almost _drooling_ as he looked her over. "Ravus told us of your unfortunate meeting in Cauthess. Allow me to say that you look even more fetching as a vampire than as a human."

Nyx shook the crossbow in threat, and then bellowed a snarl of, "give me a reason, you fucking dolt," to Loqi.

Loqi placed a hand to his chest as though he'd been affronted by Nyx's words. "How incredibly rude of you. I was merely paying the lady a compliment. There's no reason to be so hostile, is there?" he asked, turning his gaze to Noctis. "Do control your pet. I would hate to see him meet with an unfortunate accident if he continues down this-"

"Stop." Luna's voice came as a low rumble as she glared at Loqi, fury narrowing her eyes. "That's enough. You will leave this person alone and you will depart from here now, or else things will have to get ugly."

Honestly, in Noctis' eyes, there was no reason for things not to get ugly _now_. Aldercapt deserved it. Loqi deserved it. Imagining all the people they'd killed, imagining what likely would have happened to Dino if they hadn't arrived when they did—not that he didn't deserve a little bit of it, at least—made Noctis think that dusting these vampires the same way they'd done with their imperial tails mere moments ago was the best thing possible. Luna, though, stepped in front of Nyx and Noctis, staring them down with the utmost confidence. She was as unshakable as ever.

Aldercapt laughed at her, though, shaking his head no. "Ah, Lunafreya. So long had Tenebrae suffered under your family's rule. It's a shame how easy it was to step in and-"

Nyx didn't even wait for that sentence to finish. He fired the crossbow at Iedolas, Nyx's angry shaking hands the only thing making the bolt miss impacting his heart. "Enough!" he shouted, jolting the now-empty crossbow back toward Aldercapt. "You heard what she said! Leave us alone and get out of here!" Anger had his voice trembling, but he didn't make a move at all.

With a laugh, Aldercapt merely reached to his shoulder where the crossbow bolt had impacted, yanking it out effortlessly. The glib and casual laughter faded away as he sped forward, shoving Nyx to the ground with all of his strength. " _Dogs_ should learn their place!" he hissed, delivering a sharp kick to Nyx's ribs before he could pick himself up. The ensuing crack snapped Noctis' attention to where Nyx lay on the ground, coughing.

"Nyx!" Luna shouted, shooting forward and tackling Aldercapt to the ground, to get him away from Nyx before he could do anymore damage.

From the corner of his eye, Noctis noticed Loqi stepping forward to pick up where Aldercapt had left off, and he charged forward, cutting him off. Noctis bared his fangs, hissing a sharp note at the advancing imperial. He heard movement from behind him. Not from Luna and Aldercapt, who were still fighting in the grass, but from a third source. The only other person in the area was Dino, and Noctis had to wonder what he was doing. He didn't take the time to look, just pulled the garlic stake from his belt and showed it to Loqi in threat.

Loqi spotted Dino where he'd run up to assist Nyx, the redness in the imperial's eyes deepening a touch, from tomato-shaded to a deep crimson. Turning his head back to Noctis, a diabolical grin crossed his face. He didn't move forward, instead reached into his coat and pulled out a small, unlabeled, aerosol spray bottle. Before Noctis could even react, he'd reached forward and pressed on the trigger. A thin stream of odorous liquid coursed forward and impacted with Noctis' face; in his eyes, all over his cheeks.

The scent hit him before the sensation did. Garlic water. The second he recognized what it was, it began to sear at his skin, burning like an acid bath. Noctis' agonized shout echoed out along the beach, and he brought his hands up to try and wipe it away, but instead, it only caused his hands to burn as well as his face. For the moment, he couldn't see. But he _could_ hear. And he heard Loqi rush past him to where Dino and Nyx's movements and scents came from. Dino moved first, followed by Loqi, and as Noctis' vision started coming back—blurry and white, like trying to see through a zero-visibility snowstorm—he moved toward Dino and Loqi, accidentally tripping over Nyx where he still tried to pull himself from the ground.

He got there eventually, though, and tore the vampire from the human, placing himself squarely between the two. His face still burned, but his vision had increased a little bit more. Blood tears flowed from his eyes, but he didn't let it deter him. He couldn't let Loqi have Dino; couldn't let these imperial assholes victimize any more humans the way they had Prompto and Luna.

"You know, Prince Noctis," Loqi singsonged, "it's going to be _so sweet_ putting an end to your miserable existence. And then, once I finish with you, I'll scour _all of Lucis_ to find Ardyn's pet and bring him home. And there will be _nothing_ you can do to stop me."

Noctis' eyes, as bleary as they were, narrowed. He stepped forward, but in his bleariness, Loqi was able to catch him off-guard and capture his arm, wrenching the stake from his grasp, which was shaky from the garlic water that he'd rubbed off on his hands. Noctis wrenched his arm from Loqi's grasp, but fell to the ground in a heap in the process, providing Loqi with what _should_ have been the perfect opportunity to stab him. But instead, a deafening _CRACK_ echoed out through the air. Noctis turned, slowly-focusing eyes catching sight of Nyx on the ground with the crossbow trained on Loqi. It wasn't a kill shot—it had landed in Loqi's shoulder—but it didn't need to be.

The distraction was enough to make Loqi drop the stake in his hand, and Noctis picked it up while Loqi's attention was turned on Nyx. Noctis moved toward Loqi, but before he could attack, Aldercapt, who had temporarily incapacitated Luna with a garlic stake to her waist, lunged at him and knocked him to the grass.

Frankly, Noctis had absolutely _no_ qualms about putting a stake in Aldarcapt's heart. He wrestled with the old vampire once more, getting the upper hand just as he had that first night with Prompto. But before he got the chance, Aldercapt pulled out another garlic water aerosol bottle and sprayed it at whatever part of Noctis he could reach. It impacted his throat, shoulder, and chest, and the burning caught him off-guard for long enough for Aldercapt to crawl from under his pin.

Rather than planning another attack, the cowardly old vampire ran.

Noctis writhed on the ground for a few more seconds as his face and throat burned, but managed to pick himself up. His eyes were a little more focused now, and he turned to look just in time to see Loqi advancing on Luna now, with the stake from his side in his hand.

"Think about it, Lunafreya," Loqi announced, lowering the stake from attack position. "We could be _positively_ unstoppable. Two powerful vampires. I would help you get Tenebrae back, and we could rule the place together. No one would dare speak out against a pair of vampires running a country together. All you need to do is help me take care of-"

Another crack echoed out across the beach. Nyx had loaded the crossbow and fired again, hitting Loqi in the back. It was over his heart, but Loqi still stood. Noctis surmised that it must not have gone deep enough. "Do us all a favor and turn to dust, idiot," he seethed from the ground.

Loqi's full attention was on Nyx now, fury in his eyes. He hissed, drops of venom raining from his mouth as he shot across the distance to where Nyx still struggled to pick himself up from the ground. "I'm not gonna let a _dog_ kill me. Now _play dead_!" he seethed, winding up and kicking Nyx in the side again.

Before Noctis could move to help, though, Luna had already closed the distance between herself and Loqi. She placed her hand on the garlic stake in his back. "You are a terrible person," she announced, grabbing him by the shoulder with her other hand. "I hope that you find peace with whatever made you so miserable in the afterlife." And with that, she pushed on the stake, driving it into Loqi's heart and making him vanish to dust. The second she was no longer holding onto Loqi, she hurried to Nyx's side and crouched down to help him sit up and then get to his feet.

"Fuck," Nyx cursed as he moved from laying down to sitting. "Wish I healed as quick as you vamps do." He motioned toward Luna and Noctis.

It wasn't until Nyx pointed that out that Noctis realized that his face burned less. His chest and throat still burned, definitely, but at the very least, he didn't feel like he was lying on hot coals anymore. Nyx, though. Nyx looked rough. "How long does it take you to heal?" he asked, trying to focus his still-blurry vision on his friends.

Nyx grunted as Luna helped him to his feet. "'Couple days. Tomorrow it'll just feel like a dull ache, but then day after tomorrow, I'll be fine."

Sighing, Luna brought Nyx's arm up to rest around her shoulders and shook her head. "We should have expected them to intercept us," she muttered, then turned her head to glance at Dino. "Are you... are you alright..." Her voice trailed off when it occurred to her that she didn't know his name.

Noctis walked past Luna and Nyx, then stopped in front of Dino. "What were you doing out here, anyway?" he asked.

"Dino Ghiranze," he introduced himself to Luna, cradling one arm over his chest and using the other to straighten out some wrinkles in his tie. "I was at the ferry, tryin' to get some info about the reason it was blocked off earlier today when those two grabbed me and dragged me out here. They were askin' a whole bunch of questions about you. About that blond that was with you."

Blinking his blurry eyes, Noctis tried to focus on Dino. "What did you tell them?" he asked, trying not to sound too threatening.

But Dino shook his head no. "Nothin'. I didn't tell them anything, I promise," he insisted, raising his hand in defense and continuing to shake his head. "That's why they busted my arm. And the old guy said that if I didn't tell 'em anything, he was gonna let his hungry friend kill me. I... I almost did. But I didn't. I-"

Huffing, Noctis nodded toward the restaurant. "It's fine. As long as you didn't. We'll get you back to town. Call you a doctor or something," he told Dino.

And they did. They walked Dino back to town, where Coctura met them at the restaurant end of the boardwalk. She led him into the restaurant itself to wait for the ambulance that Luna had insisting upon calling, leaving Nyx, Luna, and Noctis alone again. The sun was on its way down now, the sky darkening significantly, and Noctis sighed softly. His face didn't burn that much anymore, though a cursory glance at his reflection in the water showed that it was red as hell, as were his neck and collarbone, and likely his chest beneath his shirt. It reminded him that his clothing was all in Altissia with the others.

As if summoned by his thoughts, his cell phone rang in his pocket. He blinked a couple of times and fished it out, raking his fang over his lower lip when Ignis' name flashed across the screen. For a split second, he considered not answering. Ignis was likely less than impressed with him for going off on his own. But when Noctis explained that he'd chanced to run into Luna, he couldn't be angry anymore, right?

He accepted the call, holding an index finger out to Luna and Nyx, who were heading to the nearby haven to make camp for the night. "Hey, Specs," he answered.

Except, it wasn't Ignis' voice he heard on the other line. No, instead, it was a very panicked Prompto, whose voice shuddered when he cried, "Noctis!" into the other line.

To say that he was relieved to hear Prompto's voice was the understatement of the century. In fact, it was almost enough to make him want to leave Luna and Nyx behind and take off into the ocean on his own to swim across and be with Prompto again. But he restrained himself, instead opting to turn his eyes to the sky and thank whatever astral had deemed it a good cause to ensure that Prompto got to Altissia safely. He managed a relieved laugh as he fell to a seated position in the sand.

"Sunshine..." he whispered into the phone. "Borrowed Specs' phone, huh?"

Prompto's voice was shaky when he replied. "Y-yeah," he answered. It sounded busy on the other end of the line. Like they were walking through the city. He could hear Ignis and Gladio's muffled voices in the background, too, talking about paying for a night at a hotel. "I... I had this whole speech planned for when we got here. When Ignis let me use his phone and everything. I was going to yell at you. Shout at you and ask you why you did that. Why you left me..." His voice shook even more when he spoke those words, but after Noctis heard him take a breath inward, his next words were simultaneously calmer and more emotional. "But... but I'm just so relieved to hear your voice and know that you're okay that I..."

Noctis let a bitter laugh escape at that. "I'm okay," he answered. "I couldn't let those imperials get onto the boat with you, Prompto. You know that."

"But... but what about you, though? If they got you, they may as well have gotten to me, Noct." Prompto's tone was quiet, sheepish.

More than anything, Noctis wished that he was there. That he could scoop Prompto into his arms and tell him that there was nothing Noctis wouldn't do to keep him safe. "They didn't, though," he answered. "Tried, but didn't. And guess what?"

At first, Prompto's only response was a choked sob, but he cleared his throat and answered with words instead. "What?" he asked, his voice still sounding a little bit strangled.

"I ran into Luna. She asked about you. And she's coming to Altissia with me tomorrow." Noctis had to hope that the news that Luna was okay—that one of his friends that he'd made in imperial lockup was okay and was with Noctis, on her way to be reunited with Prompto again—would give some purpose to their separation.

And Prompto's gasp on the other end of the line made Noctis chuckle a fond note. "Luna's with you? Really?" he asked, some of the sadness fading from his voice and replacing itself with relief.

Noctis hummed a soft laugh, the happiness in Prompto's voice making everything else in the world a little bit less important. "Yeah. Her and her boyfriend—I think, anyway—Nyx. They're coming with me tomorrow. I think they're looking to stay in Altissia with us," he answered.

"That's awesome! Oh man, I've been so worried about her since she escaped and..." He paused, and Ignis' voice filtered through from the other end of the line, asking about Luna. Prompto gave Ignis a brief explanation, and then there was some shuffling on the line.

And the next voice he heard was very much not Prompto's. "Luna? As in Lady Lunafreya?"

At that, Noctis couldn't hold back a soft laugh. "Hi to you, too, Specs," he teased.

"I'm actually quite livid with you at the moment, Noctis. For worrying us all like you did. So, you'll have to forgive me for forgoing the pleasantries at the moment. Now, about Luna..." Ignis commented, his tone as sharp as it always was when Noctis did something that made him angry.

Were it even remotely funny, Noctis would have been amused at the fact that Ignis seemed more angered at Noctis putting himself on the line to save Prompto than he'd been about becoming a vampire. Maybe he was, just a little bit, if the way his mouth quirked into a little smirk was any indication. But he didn't let it show. "Yeah, Luna. As in Tenebrae Luna who went missing almost a decade ago."

"And she was a friend of Prompto's." Ignis' tone wasn't questioning. It held complete awareness of the situation. "But she escaped. Is she..."

Noctis nodded at first, before remembering that he was on the phone. "Yeah. Yeah, she's a vampire, Specs. But it didn't happen in captivity, if that's what you're wondering. It happened afterward. I'll let her tell you." Partially because it wasn't his story to tell, but also partially because he really just wanted to be sure that he and Ignis were okay at the moment.

Ignis sighed softly. "I see," he answered.

"Yeah. Hey, Specs?"

After a beat of silence, Ignis answered, "yes?"

"You understand why I did that, right? Why I didn't get on the boat... and why I made sure you stayed on the boat?" There was a shameful amount of pleading in Noctis' tone, but Ignis was one of his dearest friends. He didn't really like having _anyone_ angry with him, but he knew how Ignis could be when he was mad.

Silence came across the phone for another couple of seconds, but then Ignis finally answered, "yes," once again. "I do. And I can't say I wouldn't have done the same for Gladio if I'd been in your shoes. But Prompto spent the whole ferry ride beside himself with worry." Ignis laughed a halfhearted laugh. "While Gladio has him distracted, I feel I can tell you that I'm fairly certain that he loves you."

Noctis blinked dumbly at the horizon. "What?" he asked.

Ignis laughed, a welcome noise in light of how mad he'd said he was at Noctis, and said, "as I said, he's been beside himself with worry. To the point that the _very second_ that we docked and got off the ferry, he asked me for my phone to call you and ensure that you were okay. I suspect he won't get much by way of sleep tonight," he pointed out.

Most of the time, Ignis was pretty good at reading situations, and Noctis couldn't help but blink dumbly at the horizon. "I... complete confidence?" he asked Ignis.

"Of course."

Noctis ran his tongue over his fang and confessed, "I think I love him, too. That's why... that's why I couldn't let the imperials have him, Specs. Why I had to do whatever I could to make sure he got to Altissia safely." Smoothing a hand through his hair, Noctis lay back in the sand and stared up at the stars.

Ignis chuckled fondly into the phone. "I know you do, Noct," he told Noctis, amused. "I've known since that first night you brought him back to camp."

He knew. Of course he knew. Ignis had always been good with situations like that. Noctis had to chuckle a bit. "D-don't tell him, okay? And keep him safe tonight? So I..." he trailed off, unsure of how to finish.

"Gladio and I both will, Noct," Ignis reassured him. "Ah. He's back, and he's begging me for the phone back. Quite profusely, in fact. Take care to get here quickly, would you, Noct? Here's Prompto."

Noctis had to laugh a soft note as he heard shuffling on the other end of the phone. And when Prompto's voice came back through with a plea of, "you'll be here tomorrow, right?" the smile only grew wider.

"I will," Noctis promised. In fact, there was absolutely nothing that would keep him from getting on that ferry.


	18. Chapter 18

That night had been a very, very long one. He'd camped with Luna and Nyx at the haven, but his entire night had been spent sitting out by the fire by himself while Nyx slept and Luna rested with him. It was the first real time that Noctis had alone to think in a long, long time. And his mind wandered to everything that had happened to him over the past month or so. Being turned, growing more and more accustomed to being a vampire every day. Turning Ignis, being exiled, finding Gladio, meeting Prompto. Falling for Prompto.

He thought of Prompto as he sucked down a couple of the blood pouches that Coctura had given to them as a thank you for keeping Dino from becoming a meal. Never in his life did he suspect that it would take becoming a vampire and leaving Insomnia for him to find someone that made his heart skip a beat—and no, the irony of that turn of phrase wasn't lost on him. But here he was, exiled and in love. Part of him wondered what his father would think. Regis had never really had any problem with the fact that he preferred men to women, so he couldn't see him caring, really. Not for the first time, Noctis considered calling him, just to ensure that he was still alive. But he shook that thought off. Leaving had been painful enough. He didn't want to put himself or his father through the pain of having to speak for a brief moment, just to say goodbye again.

A slight pang of lonely homesickness ran through Noctis' chest, and he blinked hard to dispel it. A new home. He'd make a new home in Altissia with Prompto and the others, just as soon as they got onto the ferry tomorrow. Like he'd promised.

For once, when Noctis made a promise, he actually managed to keep it. If there were imperial vampires at Galdin Quay the next morning, Noctis never saw them. Never sensed them, even. He wondered if maybe Aldercapt had called them off somehow, but immediately dismissed that, because there was no way that coward would do anything like that, unless it benefited him somehow.

Once the ferry took off, Noctis allowed relief to relax him a little bit. Nyx rested below deck, relaxing his tired ribs, and for the first part of the trip, Luna stayed with him. The fact that they were so inseparable only made Noctis miss Prompto all the more. He sat alone at the back of the boat, where just yesterday, Prompto had stood and faded into the distance as Noctis lured the imperial vampires away. Between his face that day, and his voice the night prior, Noctis could only imagine how Prompto was feeling.

Well, no. He could more than imagine it. He was worried, too. He knew that he had no real reason to be, of course. Ignis and Gladio would never let anything happen to Prompto, and it wasn't like Prompto wasn't capable of taking care of himself, either. He'd proven that time and time again. But Noctis wanted to be there. He wanted them to protect each other like they'd been doing since the first day they met. Noctis leaned over the back railing of the ferry and glanced at his reflection in the moving water. The garlic burns were fading from his face, but he wouldn't be completely healed by the time he met up with Prompto again. It wasn't like it was a _huge_ deal or anything. Prompto wouldn't judge him for it, would probably only be concerned. Likely only more so when he told the story of what had happened while they were apart, too.

The thought made him chuckle bitterly as he rested his forearms against the back of the boat and looked out at the horizon. The water seemed endless. They were far enough out in the ocean that even with his enhanced vampire sight, Noctis couldn't see the Quay or Accordo on either side of them. It just looked like a limitless blue expanse. The type of thing that Prompto would have loved in a picture. Noctis watched as the sun sank down toward the horizon, shading it with purples and oranges. He hadn't seen a sunset like this since the night Ardyn attacked him; since the night he'd been turned.

It was funny, in a way that wasn't really funny at all, that he hadn't seen Ardyn since Lestallum. They'd retreated successfully, but Noctis had expected for him to follow. He'd expected to see at least _some_ sign of him before finally departing to Altissia. But there'd been none. Not that it was a complaint, of course. Any day that went by when he didn't see or think of Ardyn was a success. Still, a little bit of worry lingered. What if, somehow, the man had found his way to Accordo, to Altissia? To Prompto? Shaking his head to dispel that worry, he puffed out a heavy sigh and turned his head toward a couple of passing clouds.

A hand on his shoulder caught his attention, and he turned to see Luna, smiling kindly at him. "You've been alone up here for quite some time," she mused. "Nyx was sleeping, so I thought to come and give you some company. If you're up for it?"

With a nod, Noctis glanced back out at the horizon. "That'd be great," he answered. "I think I need to get out of my own head a little bit, anyway. Been sitting here worrying about Ardyn finding his way to Altissia before us, but..." He trailed off, clenching his jaw and blinking a couple of times. He'd been planning to say that it was impossible, but was it? "That's... that's impossible. Right?"

Luna tilted her head to the side. "We did get here as quickly as we could with all of us together," she murmured.

But Ardyn didn't have that issue. As far as Noctis knew, he was going solo. He didn't have to wait for any type of creature with stamina, so he didn't _have_ anything holding him back from, say, swimming the whole ocean to get to where he wanted to be. Tension jumped up and made Noctis wring his hands a couple of times.

"Noctis?" Luna addressed.

Noctis' frown deepened. "He doesn't have anything keeping him from swimming the ocean," he admitted his thoughts. "All he would need is to find out where Prompto went. What if one of those imperial vampires called him before we found them? Or if Aldercapt found out somehow and-"

Luna reached over, stopping him from talking with a hand squeezing his shoulder. "Don't what if yourself into a panic, Noctis," she reminded him, shaking him slightly.

After that, Noctis' tone softened, but his panic didn't really abate at all. "Prompto's capable of defending himself, I know he is. But... but if you'd seen him, Luna, when we saw Ardyn in Lestallum..." His mind flashed back to when they'd encountered Ardyn in the back alleys of the small city. "It's like... he acts like he's at peace with it most of the time, but the very _sight_ of Ardyn made him panic. He couldn't even move. Even after he shot Ardyn, I had to pick him up and run away with him, because he was still frozen."

Expression somber as she stared out into the ocean, Luna nodded. "I understand his feeling," she answered. "I felt the same when I saw Loqi. It's..." She lifted her head from the water and stared out at the horizon with Noctis. "For so long, these men took everything from us. Our freedom. Our chance for normal lives. The very blood from our veins. And..." She paused, trailing off and twining her fingers together.

"And?" Noctis asked, though he was a little bit anxious to hear the answer.

Luna frowned, pulled in a steadying breath, then nodded. "And..." she started again. "Having a vampire take blood from you can feel many ways, Noctis. It can be incredibly painful, if they tear at your skin... which I can see from your scar is what happened to you when you were turned. But if it's a light pinch? Just a tiny breaking of the skin? It's..." She glanced at her hands again, swallowing thickly. "It can feel very intimate after that."

Intimate. Noctis felt his hands clenching at the railing even tighter. The wood bent beneath his fingers. Intimate. Did that mean that Ardyn had... "Are you saying that they-"

"Not in the basest term," Luna interjected. "It's not as though they... we weren't used like that, Noctis. At least most of us weren't," she insisted. "I wasn't. And Prompto never told me about anything like that when we talked in the common room. He likely would have. He's alarmingly open, despite his circumstance. But, just because it wasn't sexual does not mean that it doesn't feel... invasive." She hugged herself loosely.

Noctis loosened his grip on the ferry's railing and was alarmed to see four divots of his fingerprints left in the soft wood. Shaking that off, he placed a hand on Luna's arm. "I'm sorry."

She shook her head no. "I'm alright, for the most part. I have to admit that putting a stake through Loqi's heart helped my mental state a great deal." That part was spoken with a half-laugh. "That sounds horrible, doesn't it?" she asked.

"Given the circumstances? No. I'd say it's an under-reaction if anything. Explains why Nyx flipped like he did, too. When you said that it was Loqi, I mean." Noctis turned his head toward the door to the cabins, where his new friend and Luna's boyfriend rested. "I'm assuming he knows. That you told him."

With a nod, Luna smiled a bittersweet smile. "He was livid, actually. Much like you." She glanced down at the indentations in the wood on the edge of the boat. "He swore vengeance on Loqi that day. We actually talked about it at camp last night. He joked about it. He said that he didn't expect for his chance at vengeance to come so quickly, but that he's glad that it did. And that he's even gladder than I was the one to deliver the final blow." Smiling sheepishly, she lifted her head again.

Noctis half-smiled. "So, are you guys... y'know. Going out?" he asked her.

Luna glanced at him incredulously, arching an eyebrow and then pursing her lips. "Going out. Honestly, Noctis. What are you, five?" she teased good-naturedly.

"That's not a no."

She scoffed. "It's not a yes, either!" she shoved him in the shoulder.

He laughed a little bit. "I'm just saying. You seem really happy with him. Even when we were kids, I never saw you smile like you do when he looks at you." Maybe Noctis wasn't really an expert on things like that. He wasn't an expert at _all_ , honestly. But he _did_ have a little bit more experience with it than he ever had before, recently.

Smiling bashfully, Luna shrugged a shoulder. "I suppose I am a bit obvious, aren't I?" she asked.

"I mean, if _I_ can pick up on it, then you've gotta be obvious," he joked at his own expense. "Plus, you've never really hidden anything. You literally stayed in the tent all night with him after he got hurt, while he slept, and spent all day today laying down there with him, too. So. Two plus two equals damn that's obvious."

Luna laughed again. "Well, what about _you_ , Mr. I Take On a Whole Party Of Imperial Vampires Alone Just To Protect Prompto?" she asked, flashing him an incredibly knowing smirk.

All Noctis could do was shrug, as he turned to glance at the water again. "Yeah," was his only answer at first. "I mean... it's crazy. It used to be _so hard_ being around him in the beginning. And sometimes it still is. He cuts his hand or tilts his head just right and it's like I'm fighting with myself. Trying to keep myself from... you know. Drinking from him. But even with that, I... I want to. You know? Be with him. He makes all of this not so bad, because he tells me things like... I'm just a different kind of alive, or I'm still me, or that I'm different." The thought of Prompto, waiting for him when this boat docked, made him smile.

"Do you love him?" Luna asked outright.

And the question took him off guard. He'd just said it the night prior to Ignis, of course, but it was still a little bit out of the blue. Still, there was never really any point in hiding the truth from Luna. She always knew. Noctis turned toward the Altissian shoreline, leaning against the railing of the ferry and nodding. "I think so," he answered.

She smiled. "It's okay. I think I love Nyx, too," she admitted in return.

They fell into the comfortable silence of childhood friends, and Noctis watched as the Accordan shoreline appeared in the distance. The intercom came on, informing all passengers that they had about an hour before they arrived in Altissia, and Noctis felt one side of his mouth quirking into a smile. One hour until he was back with Prompto again. One hour until he found his new home. When Luna excused herself to go and collect Nyx, Noctis walked up to the front of the ferry so that he could watch Accordo appear in the distance. One hour became a half an hour became fifteen minutes, and in the darkness of the ocean sky, Noctis could see the city lights appearing in the distance. Luna and Nyx appeared on the deck beside him, Luna's hand in Nyx's as Luna carried a majority of their luggage. Noctis smirked a bit at that, before offering to lighten Nyx's load a bit. He seemed to be doing a bit better, but likely still shouldn't be straining much.

"We're almost there," Noctis pointed out, his eyes turning back toward the skyline.

As they approached the shore, Noctis could smell what felt like a _thousand_ different scents. Human, vampire, werewolf, all mixing in his nose and almost overwhelming him at first. Luna was having a similar problem, it seemed, and she flashed Noctis a knowing, understanding expression. It would take time to get used to that, he figured. But he was more than willing to, for Prompto.

The ferry slowed down and pulled into port, and Noctis moved with Luna and Nyx toward the plank to get to the docks. His ear caught the sound of a string trio playing music in the distance, and he caught sight of several trees surrounded with lights. Streets turned to waterways and then back to streets in the distance, and it made Noctis' smile grow.

A familiar scent found its way to his nostrils, coming ever-closer. Cinnamon and sunshine wafted through the air and teased Noctis' senses like he hadn't smelled it in a lifetime, when it had only really just been a little more than a day. Closer and closer it came, until Noctis reached the end of the dock and spotted a familiar head of blond hair coming down a flight of stairs. He disappeared into the crowd for a second, but before Noctis knew it, a pleasant warmth wrapped itself around his shoulders and covered his chest. Prompto jumped up, hugging him tightly and burying his face in Noctis' neck without saying a word.

Noctis set down Luna and Nyx's luggage, reaching his arms out and wrapping them loosely around Prompto's waist. "Hey, Sunshine," he whispered against his t-shirt.

"You made it," Prompto whispered in return, his voice a little bit shaky in his relief.

Gladio and Ignis' familiar scents got closer, too, but beyond a brief greeting, they mostly ignored Noctis in lieu of greeting Luna and Nyx. Noctis figured that they'd talk later. It was almost _definite_ that Gladio would go from lecturing Noctis about being stupid and going off on his own to being proud of him for doing the right thing. Ignis had already said most of his piece on the phone, though Noctis was sure that he hadn't heard the last of it from him, either. Oddly enough—or perhaps not oddly at all—none of that seemed to matter right now. All that mattered was that he had Prompto in his arms again. That nothing had happened and that they were both _here_ , like they'd promised.

"I'm sorry I worried you," Noctis muttered to Prompto, not even bothering to pull back from the embrace. There was legitimately nothing else more important than holding him right now.

Prompto, though, loosened the embrace and met Noctis' eyes, his own violet-blue eyes shining with tears. "It's... it's okay." His tone was obviously hesitant. "And thank you. I know why you did it and I remembered today that I never thanked you on the phone last night. But Gladio pointed out that if they'd gotten onto the ferry with us, it really would've been bad."

Noctis nodded his head. "Really bad," he answered. "Not just for us, but for all the other passengers, too."

With his eyes still on Noctis', Prompto leaned in and pressed their lips together for the briefest of moments. "Part of me wants to ask you never to do something like that again," he admitted. "But the rest of me knows that it's pointless, and... and you wouldn't be you if you didn't do brave and sorta stupid things to protect the people you care about." He grinned a lopsided grin at Noctis, stealing another quick kiss.

It had only been one night, but it was shameful how much Noctis had missed _that_ particular feeling. Noctis' hands slid from where they rested on Prompto's waist, down to hook into the back pockets of his pants and pull his body flush against Noctis' own. _The people you care about,_ Prompto had said. Care about. The words were on the tip of his tongue; a correction of two simple words replaced with one. But he hesitated for a second too long, and before he knew it, Gladio's hand was on his shoulder.

"Probably shouldn't make out in the middle of the ferry dock, guys," Gladio teased, squeezing Noctis' shoulder in an odd combination of what felt like pride and teasing.

And it was in that moment that Prompto noticed Luna. His eyes widened when she approached, and he slowly disentangled himself from Noctis' body. After stealing another quick kiss, he smiled softly and side-stepped around Noctis, hurrying up to Luna and sharing a hug with her. The pair of them immediately set to talking, and Prompto had a slightly disappointed expression on his face when the realization dawned on him that she was a vampire.

Hugging her again, Prompto strangled, "they got you?"

Luna shook her head no, not loosening her hug. "No. It was... it was someone else. Kind of. I'll explain later, okay?" She smiled a gentle smile at him, finally releasing him from the hug. "I'm just glad you're okay. When the woman in black let me out of the facility, I begged her to go back for you, but I wasn't sure if-"

Prompto cut her off with a nod. "She did. I should've known you were the reason I got out," he chuckled softly.

The two of them chatted for a few more moments, before Ignis finally cleared his throat. "I hate to break up the reunion," he started, "but we should likely take this to the hotel. Noctis, Lunafreya, I've taken the liberty of stocking up on some blood from the Underground for us. As much as I would like to cook dinner, we've had to rely on ordering room service from the hotel until we can find more permanent lodgings. But the good news is that they have rare steak readily available." He turned his attention to Nyx, nodding in acknowledgment.

"Iggy's been waiting for you to get here before he starts really lookin' for apartments," Gladio explained. "There's a couple buildings with vacancies, though. Couple two bedrooms. Some three, I think."

As Ignis and Gladio continued talking, Prompto stepped up to Noctis again, seeking his hand out and wrapping their fingers together. There had been a couple of times when they were together when Prompto didn't look happy; when Noctis was still trying to deny his feelings, for starters. But right now... right now he looked really, really happy. Happy beyond all sense of reason, honestly. And as they all started toward the hotel together, Noctis swore to do whatever he had to do to make sure that he was always that happy. No matter what it took.


	19. Chapter 19

Two weeks, and Altissia was already starting to feel like home. They all managed to find apartments in the same building, and the feeling of family was only stronger with Nyx and Luna more or less joining the group. Their apartment building was near the center of town, so when things were quiet, they could hear the festivities that went on in town almost every night. More often than not, those festivities were kind of like a siren call for them to go out and enjoy the nightlife.

Noctis had dated in the Crown City. He'd taken girls or guys to movies or dinner or whatever else. Typical dates. But none of the dates that he'd gone on with Prompto had been typical at all, and Noctis loved it. The night after Noctis got to town, they went to the monster arena. Noctis won Prompto a brand new camera that night with his unwitting dumb luck. Two nights later, they went to the rooftop to stargaze. Noctis had regaled Prompto with every piece of information that he remembered from the cosmogony book that he and Luna had read together as children. Prompto had taken pictures of the stars until his new camera ran out of space. They'd ended that night by snuggling on the roof, until Prompto fell asleep in his arms. The next night, Prompto had completely surprised him with a suggestion that Noctis take him fishing.

Apparently, Prompto had remembered that Noctis had expressed a love of fishing back when he was human, so they'd spent the night—and into the wee hours of the morning—fishing on a secluded dock just barely off the shore. Noctis had caught enough fish to fill their freezer, while Prompto talked. Normally, Noctis hated people talking while he fished, but with Prompto he didn't mind. Prompto shared his dreams—he'd always wanted to travel and see all of the places that Luna had told him about, or that he'd read about in books, he said—and talked about how happy he was with their group, with their family.

He'd talked about Noctis a lot, too, while snapping pictures of him, in that open honesty that always took Noctis—and apparently Luna, too—off guard. He made an offhand comment about how Noctis' eyes reminded him of topaz, which took Noctis _completely_ by surprise and made him lose the fish he'd been reeling in. But Prompto, unfazed beyond a perfect pink flush of his cheeks, explained that the blue stood out against the paleness of his skin and the darkness of his hair. It was almost funny, honestly. From anyone else, comments on the paleness of his skin would have made him self-conscious. Not from Prompto, though. The fondness in his tone when he said it, the pure affection, would have been enough to make Noctis weak in the knees if such a thing was possible anymore.

It felt like they'd been all around the city together, but they'd only seen bits and pieces of it. And each time, Noctis found himself falling deeper and deeper in love.

Tonight, Noctis had something special planned. Prompto had suggested that they go to the dock and fish some more, but Noctis had other plans. He'd spoken to a couple of people in the city, asking what was outside the walls. When they'd explained that, for miles and miles, it was only nature—ocean and caves and forests and ponds; all places untouched by people—Noctis decided to go out and scout it on his own. While Luna and Prompto spent time catching up, Noctis rented a boat from a woman at the Altissian docks, and took it around the wall, scouting the area a bit for a spot for he and Prompto to have some private time. The info he'd gotten turned out to be right, because as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but beach, completely untouched by humans or werewolves or vampires. The only scents he picked up were those of natural beasts. The ones that would leave them alone unless they got too close. And there was a perfect spot on a hill that overlooked the beach, with nothing to see but ocean.

So, with the spot picked, he returned to Altissia. On the way home, he stopped at the bookstore and bought an old battered copy of the cosmogony book he'd spoken of. Since there were no lights on the hilltop, it was perfect stargazing visibility. It was the perfect night to see Ramuh's Staff, a constellation that only came out in midsummer and could be seen all throughout this region with a little direction. And maybe... maybe tonight, if he could work up the nerve, Noctis would confess his love to Prompto.

He headed up the stairs to his apartment—Prompto had been anxious about being on the top floor at first; a phobia of heights that he didn't know he had decided to show itself, but he was working through it—with the cosmogony book in hand. When he reached the top floor, though, an oddly familiar stench hit his nose. Part of it was steak. But the other part was... very unpleasant and familiar and it reminded him of Galdin Quay. Of... of _Dino_.

The smell of sauerkraut had never really bothered Noctis when he was human. He'd never actively sought it out or anything, but it had never outright bothered him to the point that it disgusted him. He was wondering two things right now. The first curiosity was if his sudden nose-curling disgust at the smell as he continued down the hall had to do with his new vampire senses changing his taste buds to only desire blood. It wasn't like he'd actually _enjoyed_ sauerkraut before he'd been turned, but once in awhile it was alright. Now, though... now he wanted nothing whatsoever to do with it. Secondly was a deep curiosity of _why_ the hallway in front of his apartment smelled like someone had filled the walls with sauerkraut.

At least one of the questions found its answer when Noctis opened the door to the apartment and spotted Prompto cooking, while Gladio sat in a recliner on the other side of the room, reading. Luna was sipping a wine glass full of blood and going through some of Prompto's photos, and a cursory glance around the room showed Noctis that Nyx and Ignis were nowhere to be found. Prompto smiled and waved an excited wave upon seeing Noctis walk into the room.

"There you are," Prompto announced. "Where'd you go, anyway?"

Noctis shrugged a shoulder and turned his back, sliding the cosmogony book into the drawer attached to the table next to the door. He wanted to keep it hidden until later. "Shopping," was his vague answer. Once he turned back around, he glanced at the pan and watched as Prompto flipped a steak from it to a plate for Gladio. "What in Eos are you making?" he asked.

Gladio spoke up from the other side of the room. "Steak and sauerkraut. Iggy came up with a new recipe a couple days ago, and I suggested that Prompto try it out." He accepted the plate from Prompto as he walked across the room, and didn't waste any time whatsoever before cutting into his steak.

"It smells like Dino in here," Noctis murmured.

Turning around with an eyebrow raised, Prompto started back across the apartment to the kitchen, only stopping to steal a brief kiss to Noctis' lips. "Dino?" he asked, before grabbing Noctis' hands and heading toward the small kitchenette with him. "Like, the greasy reporter Dino from back in Galdin Quay?"

Noctis nodded his head. "Yeah. Remember, I told you he smelled bad? It was almost like burned sauerkraut. And even though this isn't burned... it smells like him." He crinkled his nose a little more as Prompto led him toward the stove. As he stood in the kitchen and looked into the pan, he cringed even further.

Now that he was thinking of it, he wondered _how_ he had never really been grossed out by sauerkraut before. Not only did it smell like horrible body odor, but it looked like boiled plastic. He cringed away from the concoction as Prompto placed a second steak into the pan, turning to the fridge to get a blood pouch for himself. Although, honestly, he wasn't even the slightest bit hungry with the odor that made its way through the room. The pouch found its way into a glass, but the glass stayed, untouched, on the counter.

"You're quite disgusted by this, aren't you?" Luna asked from the living room, finishing her wine glass. She seemed incredibly amused by the whole situation.

With an emphatic nod, Noctis glanced at the pan. "If the smell didn't do it, the fact that it looks like shredded plastic in saliva would have," he commented. When Prompto laughed from beside him, Noctis turned his head and glanced into the pan. "I mean, who's to say it _isn't_ shredded plastic in saliva?"

Gladio snorted a laugh. "It isn't that bad. I mean, I'm eating it, right?" he asked through a mouthful.

Pursing his lips, Noctis shrugged his shoulders. "That doesn't prove a damn thing, Big Guy. You'd probably _still_ eat shredded plastic in saliva if there was a rare steak in the middle." Feeling quite a bit of pride in that joke, Noctis smirked a smirk that made a flash of fang show over his lower lip. Luna stifled a laugh with the back of her hand, and beside him, Prompto didn't even _bother_ stifling his laughter.

"Wow, Noct. I'm almost impressed with that one," Gladio replied, his smirk belying that he _was_ actually impressed with it as he shoveled more sauerkraut into his mouth.

Noctis shrugged his head to the side. "I mean, I just call it as I see it," he teased. "So, where are Specs and Nyx?" he asked.

"Nyx was curious as to where the Werewolf Lockdown was in this in Altissia," Luna explained, frowning. "Ignis had to go and do some grocery shopping, so he offered to show him. I... wanted to go, but he won't let me come with him."

To that, Gladio frowned, too. "It's okay, Lady Lunafreya-"

Luna interrupted to correct him. "Luna," she interjected with a weak smile.

"Right," Gladio nodded once, somberly. "Luna. Iggy's gonna talk to him. He'll explain what I was like when I shifted, and if nothing else, that should convince him to let you go along. And if not, we've got a couple of nights until the next full moon, so I'll talk with him. Should be okay." He nodded a reassuring nod at her, before sopping up some of the horrible smelling juicy mess from the bottom of his plate and taking another bite.

While Luna and Gladio talked, Noctis found his eyes turning toward Prompto with the smallest smile. Sidling closer, he wrapped an arm loosely around Prompto's waist and leaned over to whisper, "so, I uh... I have a surprise for you tonight. Do you think you can finish eating quick, so we can pack an overnight bag and head out?"

Prompto turned to look at Noctis, smirking a little bit. "A surprise?" he asked.

Noctis nodded. "I thought we could go somewhere different tonight. Somewhere we haven't been yet." A somewhat embarrassed smile crossed his face, when he realized that he had made a kind of big assumption, presuming that Prompto wanted to go anywhere at all that night. Maybe he didn't. Maybe he just wanted to stay home and-

"Yeah, okay," Prompto nodded, snapping Noctis from his own mind and stealing a quick kiss, before flipping his own steak onto his plate. "Where are we going?"

Shaking his head no, Noctis ran his tongue over his left fang, then showed Prompto a pursed-lipped smile. "If I told you, it wouldn't really be a surprise, would it?" he asked in a hushed tone, before turning his eyes back to the rest of the room.

When his eyes turned toward the living room, he stopped abruptly, realizing that Luna and Gladio were looking at them in varying degrees of amusement. Luna looked slightly embarrassed, but also slightly amused. Gladio just smirked like he knew _everything in the world_ , which was kind of annoying, but it made Noctis clear his throat and glance down at the counter sheepishly. In his periphery, he spotted Prompto's red-dusted cheeks, and exchanged a look with him.

Luna glanced over at Gladio. "You know, suddenly I feel as though we should go and find Ignis and Nyx right away," she commented, glancing at Gladio's plate in his hand. "And it seems as though you've finished eating anyway, so the timing is pretty good, isn't it?"

At first, it looked like Gladio was going to tease them, but instead, he just nodded his head in agreement and pushed himself up and out of the chair. "Yeah alright. I know where the Wolf Lockdown is, so I can take you there." He smirked a wry and teasing smirk at Noctis and Prompto, before stopping behind them to give each of them a squeeze on the shoulder. "Don't you two do anything I wouldn't do tonight, got it?" he commented.

"Doesn't exactly close us off to too much, Gladio," Noctis commented.

Gladio laughed at that and shoved Noctis in the shoulder. "You're not wrong," he mused, grinning a wild grin.

Luna laughed from across the room as she gathered her shoes from where she'd slipped out of them next to the door. "Have fun, boys," she commented, placing her wine glass in the sink and squeezing Prompto's shoulder as she headed for the door.

Once it closed behind Gladio, Prompto rubbed a hand down his face and chuckled in embarrassment. "You think we'll ever get to have a moment without it being interrupted by someone? Anyone?" he asked, before cutting off another piece of steak and popping it into his mouth.

This time, with utmost confidence, Noctis nodded his head yes. "We will. Tonight," he answered, his eyes sparkling in excitement. Even as he spoke, he gathered one of the battery operated cooler and placed a few blood pouches in it. For Prompto, he gathered some snacks, as well as a few bottles of water.

As he continued packing, after Prompto finished eating, he deflected question after question about where they were going—why Noctis was packing blankets and food, and why he'd asked Prompto to gather a change of clothes, what he'd picked up from the drawer, why he'd asked Prompto to make sure that he had space on his camera—questions which continued as they made their way to the docks and into the two-person motorboat that awaited them on the shore. When they took to the water, the questions stopped in favor of pictures starting. Pictures of the water, of the setting sun on the horizon, of Noctis, of Altissia as it disappeared into the distance... of anything he focused his eyes on.

The questions picked up again when they turned around one of the giant mountains that served as Altissia's walls. "Seriously, Noct," he mused. "If you don't at least give me some kind of hint, the anticipation is probably going to kill me..."

Noctis laughed a bit as he started slowing the boat down. "We're almost there, Sunshine," he promised.

He slowed to a stop near the shore, then hopped down, watching Prompto when he jumped down to make sure that he landed safely. After tying the boat to some trees, he turned to Prompto and half-smiled. "It's kind of a long walk. Do you want me to run you there? Get us there faster?" He thought back to the beach, to the last time they'd run off together like that. Back when Noctis was still trying to ignore his feelings. Back when he thought Prompto would be happier if they weren't together.

Never in his life had he been so glad to be wrong.

Prompto nodded and smirked, tearing his eyes from the scenery of the beach to look at Noctis. "Yeah! It's been awhile," he mused. When Noctis turned, Prompto placed his arms around Noctis' neck again and jumped up, wrapping his legs a little tighter around Noctis' waist than he had before.

The intimacy made Noctis grin, as he glanced over his shoulder and stole a quick kiss. That was different from last time, too; the freedom to kiss him like that. "I'd remind you to hold on tight, but it looks like you've already got that covered," he teased with a little smile.

Smirking, Prompto shrugged his head and teased his lower lip with his teeth. "Guess so," he agreed, giving Noctis' waist a light and quick squeeze with his thighs.

Noctis felt his grin go a little bit lopsided against his will, at the feeling of Prompto's legs tightening around him, but he tried to ignore it for right now. They had someplace to be. And with that, he took off in a sprint through the trees. As he ran and jumped over branches and rocks, Prompto whooped and shouted into his shoulder, the adrenaline clearly taking him again. He was careful to avoid anywhere that could be dangerous to Prompto on his back, hurrying to a clearing in the woods, then turning left and heading up a hill to the spot he'd picked out earlier that day. Prompto clung to him still as he slowed to a stop, panting excited breaths.

Turning his head over his shoulder and immediately meeting with a faceful of blond hair, Noctis chuckled fondly. "Enjoy yourself?"

"I _love_ doing that!" Prompto shouted, lifting his head and sending his huffing breaths into Noctis' face instead of his shoulder. There was the vaguest smell of the horrible dinner that he'd just eaten on his breath, but funnily enough—and not even the slightest bit surprisingly—the smell didn't bother him as much when it came from Prompto. Probably because it was mixed in with Prompto's own scent.

Slowly, Noctis set Prompto back on the ground and set the cooler with the blood, food, and water down on the ground. "Look around," he suggested, before gesturing for the pack on Prompto's shoulder.

Prompto wasted no time, after he handed the pack to Noctis, taking his camera out and snapping pictures. Varying trees and rocks, the beach from this high up, the lights of Altissia in the distance. His distraction provided Noctis with the perfect chance to set one of the blankets out on the ground for them to sit on, and fold the other one and set it off to the side. He set the cosmogony book off to the side on top of the folded blanket, as well as the lantern. It wasn't dark yet, so they didn't quite need it. Turning turned his attention to Prompto, who was smiling at the Altissian lights in the distance, he chuckled fondly.

"Sunshine," Noctis intimated, calling Prompto's attention.

When Prompto turned, his expression changed from fascination to question, to wide-eyed awe. Then, it softened into something Noctis had seen a hundred thousand times... but with something new mixed in. He crossed the small space that separated them, and glanced down at the blankets on the ground. "Blankets..." he muttered quietly. "And a book? Cosmogony. Like the one you told me you read with Luna when you were kids?"

Noctis nodded, extending an arm and wrapping it around Prompto's waist when he got within reach. He pulled his boyfriend close, and said, "The exact same one. I thought we could do some real stargazing. Like what we tried to do in the city the other night, but... without all the lights making it hard to see, you know? There are a couple constellations we could get a look at, and since you said your camera is good for night sky pictures, I thought you could-"

But he didn't get to finish his sentence. Prompto wrapped his arms around Noctis' shoulders again, crashing their lips together and kissing him harder than he ever had before. While Noctis' breath couldn't be stolen, he felt Prompto steal his own breath away. But it didn't seem to faze him. Silently requesting for Noctis to part his lips, he teased Noctis' tongue with his own for a moment, before pulling back and smiling a bashful smile. "No one has ever done anything like this for me before," he whispered, breathless.

Though showing no unwilling physical signs of how much he enjoyed the kiss, Noctis' grin likely showed it as clear as anything else. "Yeah, well... all I want to do is make you happy," he answered, placing his hands on Prompto's hips and pulling him close. "Be with you, and make you happy."

"You do," Prompto answered, his cheeks covered in the most adorable shade of pink that Noctis had ever seen.

Noctis half-smiled, using his position to his advantage to back them toward the blankets where they rested on the ground. "You remember," he whispered, as he sat down and pulled Prompto with him, "how you told me that you like you better when you're with me?" The question was spoken quietly, shyly.

Prompto nodded in reply as he sat down, laying back and pressing his back against Noctis' chest. "I meant it," he answered the unintended question.

With a nod, Noctis breathed an embarrassed chuckle. "I... I know you did," he admitted. "But I just wanted to let you know that... I feel the same way about you. I don't think I'd... I think I'd be having a way, way harder time with this, with _me_ , if I hadn't met you."

Tilting his head sideways and meeting Noctis' eye, Prompto's eyes asked the question before his words could get it out. "What do you mean?" he finally verbalized.

Noctis smiled shyly, wrapping his arms loosely around Prompto's chest. "Being this. Being a vampire," he started. "I mean, when I first got turned, I hated myself, Prompto. I killed Ignis. I wanted to kill my father. I almost killed _you_ when I met you. All I could see was this pale, terrible, bloodthirsty monster who should just..." He paused, to laugh a humorless laugh. "Just die. For real." He glanced down at his hands where they rested against Prompto's chest.

"But you're-"

"I know," Noctis muttered, turning his head to look back at Prompto again. "Wanted, remember? Not want..." He turned his head, glancing at Prompto with a shrug of his head. "I still don't know how you do it. See me as anything less than the same exact type of creature that-"

Prompto stopped Noctis' rambles with a quick kiss and shook his head no. "Because you're not," he answered. "All you've ever done, all you've ever wanted to do, is protect me. Get me somewhere where I'd be safe." He wet his lips. "We protect each other. Watch each other's backs. None of the vampires from Niflheim care about anything but themselves, you know? You... you care about me." He smiled a gentle smile.

"That's... that's not all," Noctis murmured. 

When Prompto's only response, initially, was to look at him, a wordless question in his eyes as they bored into Noctis' own, Noctis almost balked. But he refused to allow himself to run away. It was in the plan. It was part of the reason he'd brought Prompto here tonight. So, rather than be a coward, rather than run away from his feelings, he breathed in an unnecessary breath to steady himself, and brought one of his hands up to slide his fingertips across Prompto's cheek.

An embarrassed smile on his face, he leaned in close and whispered, "I... I think I love you, Prompto," into Prompto's ear.

The surprise on Prompto's face was nerve wracking for many, many reasons, as was the fact that he hadn't spoken a word in response yet. In lieu of a verbal response, he turned around in Noctis' arms. With a warm hand on each side of Noctis' face, he leaned in and kissed Noctis again. This wasn't like their usual kisses; it wasn't hot and heavy, or quick and innocent. It was tender; gentle and warm. Electrifying for a very different reason than the kiss they'd shared on the bed in Lestallum. 

Prompto leaned his forehead against Noctis' when the contact broke. His voice was soft, but clear as a bell, when he responded. "I love you, too," he said, silencing any further reply with another kiss, much like the last one.

So lost were they in the moment, that they were completely unaware of the second boat pulling into the sand on the shore. A second boat carrying another of Ardyn's imperial lackeys; a particular imperial lackey with a very personal stake in ensuring that Prompto came back to Niflheim...


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made an update to the **[lore guide](http://heyjealousyyy.tumblr.com/post/155637898885/promptisgladnis-vampire-au-lore)** , since there are some things in here that pertain to this chapter and coming chapters! Have a look!
> 
> ALSO! You should all check out [Lunar Calendar](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9847745) by [nicoleiacross](http://archiveofourown.org/users/nicoleiacross/pseuds/nicoleiacross)! It's a little Gladnis companion piece that she'll likely continue to update with little story-adjacent Gladnis moments!

In fact, they were still completely unaware of this new presence for a good long while. The sun faded over the horizon and the sky spotted with stars, and Prompto flipped through the book and snacked on some potato chips while Noctis explained to him what stars were where. They talked, not just about stars but about each other, for hours. Until the moon was high in the sky and starting to go back down again. Prompto was likely extremely tired, but he didn't stop asking questions; continued flipping through the book and asking about stars, or asking about Noctis and what types of things he liked and didn't like.

They alternated. Each of them would share information about themselves, and then Prompto would ask Noctis about a star and the story behind it. He'd just finished explaining why the closest star to them was named after Ifrit—because it burned brighter than any of the other stars and could sometimes even be seen on cloudy nights—when Prompto turned around again, faced him, and smiled. He shifted his position so that his legs were hooked around Noctis' waist and wrapped the blanket close around them.

"You know, it's pretty hot that you know all this stuff about stars," Prompto admitted, clasping the blankets together in his hands behind Noctis' neck.

Noctis laughed a little bit, placing his hands on Prompto's hips and pulling him a little bit closer. "Didn't know that cosmogony was such a turn on. Although it explains a lot about what your freckles do to me." 

He couldn't help but take note of the fact that Prompto's body was a little bit warmer than usual, and while Noctis wondered if it was because of the blanket surrounding them, somewhere in the back of his mind he suspected—hoped, maybe—that it wasn't. The fact that Prompto's heart beat a little bit faster than usual did very little to break that suspicion, either. They'd been here before. Bodies pressed tight together, Prompto's heart pounding against Noctis' chest. Warm breath brushing Noctis' face. Noctis' body feeling charged and alive in ways that it shouldn't have been able to feel.

But every other time, something always got in the way. Someone always showed up. Something _always_ happened and stopped things before they could start. Not this time. Not now. They were out in the middle of nowhere, miles from civilization and any other living being aside from a herd of spiracorn somewhere off to the west. It was a little embarrassing how much Noctis wanted this. But it had been awhile. Long enough that even the temperature difference between their bodies, and the outline of Prompto's length, obvious in its interest, as it pressed against his groin was enough to make him crazy. He was vaguely aware that he should eat—he'd brought several pouches of blood with him, because tomorrow was day three, and some of the information he'd read had said that three was the magic number—but he could do that later. 

Only one thing remained. Except, as Noctis leaned in to whisper the question in Prompto's ear; ask him if he was ready, he was taken off-guard when Prompto's voice hit his ear instead. "I want you," Prompto intimated. "Can we...?" The trailed-off question was followed by a warm, open-mouthed kiss to Noctis' neck, just below his ear and at the start of the bite scar that Ardyn had left behind.

"Have you ever? Before?" Noctis asked in lieu of an answer, using his position to pull Prompto tighter against him and pressing their hips together.

Prompto bit his lip, meeting Noctis' eyes and shaking his head no. "No," he answered, his voice shaky. "I mean, I was... you know, in captivity. I probably would have had to soon. I'm-" another soft gasp escaped his lips when Noctis' hips brushed against his- "I'm pretty sure they were talking about... breeding me with Luna." The confession came softly, in embarrassment. "But I never..."

Silencing him with a gentle kiss, Noctis smiled gently. "That's okay," he answered, reaching over his shoulder and taking hold of the blanket. He placed it off to the side for the moment, before encouraging Prompto to lay back on the other blanket. "I have." A few times. Times that never mattered. With people who didn't matter. He'd heard that it was different when people _did_ matter, so admittedly, he was eager to find out.

Noctis grabbed the blanket and pulled it with him while he moved closer to Prompto, watching as the blond braced himself on his elbows to sit up a little bit and watch what Noctis did next. His hands found their way to the button on Prompto's jeans, but before he could even unhook the button from the fabric, something hit his nostrils. It wasn't the spiracorn this time, nor was it the pleasant scent of Prompto's skin, or the torturous smell of his blood, or anything _else_ like that. This was a strong smell. A dangerous one. Noctis wasn't sure why, but all he could think was that it was another vampire. Somewhere nearby. Somewhere _very_ nearby.

He sat up, his hands abandoning their mission for now, and when Prompto objected, he held up his index finger in warning. "Be ready with the crossbow." His voice had changed now, it wasn't a hushed whisper anymore, and _most_ of the wanting had been replaced with worry. Especially since the dangerous smell was closing in quickly.

"What's going on?" Prompto asked, pulling himself into a seated position.

The concern had Noctis' tone a little bit less than patient when he answered. "We're not alone. Someone's coming and they're coming too fast to be a human." He got to his feet and extended his arm to Prompto, helping him stand, too. "When they show up, run for the boat," he commanded. "Go back to Altissia."

It was both surprising, and not surprising in the slightest, when Prompto refused. "I'm not leaving you!" he insisted.

"Prompto, you have t-"

Prompto shook his head.

"Please..."

But Prompto shook his head once more. "No!" he insisted. "I'm not leaving you behind, Noct. Not again," he insisted, loading the crossbow with one of the bolts and reaching for the lantern on the ground to light the area around them.

As frustrating as it was, to a degree, Noctis understood. After what had happened back in Galdin Quay, and how worried Prompto had been that day, he honestly shouldn't have expected any less. He wanted to argue; wanted to insist that Prompto do _whatever he had to do_ to ensure that he stayed safe. But at the same time, he couldn't expect Prompto to want to run and hide again. Especially not after they'd just confessed their love to each other. While it worried him, it warmed him at the same time. And rather than yell at Prompto and insist that he run, he closed the two short steps between them and pressed his lips to Prompto's in a bruising kiss.

"I love you," he told Prompto.

Prompto smiled softly, his expression lined with worry when he met Noctis' eyes. "I love you, too."

Noctis turned toward the rapidly approaching scent, squinting against the blackness when a shadowed figure appeared across the horizon. It was obviously a vampire. Another elderly vampire. The smell was different from Aldercapt's overpowering pine smell, or Ardyn's leathery tea leaf smell. It was strong and medical and made Noctis cringe his nose in disgust. This was _worse_ than Dino's sauerkraut odor somehow. The vampire had slowed his step and was approaching slowly, hands calmly in at his sides.

"Imagine my surprise," the man started, his eyes looking right past Noctis and toward Prompto, "being sent to Altissia to see if I could come up with any sign of where the prince had taken Ardyn's prize pet, only to find exactly what I was looking for before I even got there!"

Ardyn. Of _course_ this vampire was one of Ardyn's people. Dino could only throw them so far off of the trail, he supposed. Noctis had thought—hoped, maybe—that they had a little more time than two weeks without having to worry about the empire finding them in Altissia, but he supposed that was unrealistic. This vampire looked around the same age as Aldercapt looked, with white hair and a matching, oddly-coiffed beard. It was too dark to make out any other defining features, but unlike Aldercapt's cowardly-but-aggressive demeanor and Ardyn's outwardly aggressive one, this particular vampire wrought of silent danger. _Intelligent_ danger.

Ignoring the attempt at pleasantries, Noctis summoned his sword and displayed it in front of the old man. The man was a vampire, so the weapon was more like a warning than an actual threat. "Who are you?" he asked, holding his sword at the ready and his eyes trained on the other vampire, almost _daring_ him to take another step.

The vampire didn't respond with words. He merely took another couple of steps forward, and behind Noctis, he could hear the click of Prompto raising his crossbow. "Who I am doesn't matter," he spoke, his voice dull and flat, but with the scratchy shakiness of an old man's voice. "All that matters is that you've held on to what belongs to Chancellor Izunia long enough, Prince Noctis."

He heard the twang of the crossbow firing from behind him. The shot, lined up perfectly to impact with this vampire's chest, ended up being all for naught when the old vampire just _wasn't there_ when the stake arrived. He'd surged forward several feet, closer to Noctis but still with about five yards separating him from where Noctis stood, guarding Prompto. "My, my," he chided. "Sixteen has started fighting back, I see."

"M-my name isn't Sixteen," Prompto stammered from behind him.

With a derisive chuckle, the vampire hummed a thoughtful note. "Of course it is," he answered. "I should know. I'm the one who gave it to you."

Noctis blinked twice. 'The one who gave it to you.' "What are you trying to say?" he asked, taking a threatening step toward the other vampire, not lowering his sword or calming his stance.

"And you Insomnians are supposed to be intelligent," the other vampire chided, not backing down at all. "My name is Verstael Besithia. And I am the man who created Sixteen here. A bit of saved DNA from back when I was human, given to my favorite pet. Ah, Laeta. How I regret turning her. She was so-"

Prompto's voice was shaky from behind Noctis. "Laeta?" he asked.

"Recognize the name, do you? I must say, I'm surprised that the chancellor ever imparted you with that particular piece of information. Though, I suppose it's to be expected of the man who was bold enough to tell you your birth name," Verstael chided, advancing another couple of steps toward Noctis.

From behind Noctis, he heard the vibrative metallic clicking of Prompto's crossbow hand trembling. "DNA... you gave her... d-does that mean..." His voice trembled twice as much.

The situation caught up to Noctis, too, and his eyes widened, then narrowed. "You're his _father_?" he snapped, his voice echoing out through the open space around them. "His father, and you're still willing to take him back to Ardyn so that he can _use him_ as a _blood slave_?!" His voice rose ever louder, and he gripped tightly to his sword, ready to strike at any second.

Verstael chuckled. "He's an experiment. And the property of Chancellor Iz-"

"He's _not_ Ardyn's property! He's a _human being_. He doesn't belong to _anyone_ and he _definitely_ doesn't belong to any of you." Without waiting for another word of response, Noctis threw his sword at Verstael, impacting with his chest where his lungs would have been and warping to him. With a fierce kick, he drew his sword from Verstael's body and knocked him back several steps. Were he aware, he would have noticed that while throwing his sword, his light ring had caught on one of the sword's decorative barbs as it left his hand, and been dragged from his finger, hitting the grass near their blanket. He wasn't, however, so he just warped again, hitting Verstael when he was down.

Prompto stood frozen in place, likely stunned by all of the information that had just been thrown at him. But that was okay. Noctis could handle this on his own. He hissed in Verstael's face, reaching down to his hip where he kept his emergency garlic stake. From this close, the resemblance was undeniable. Verstael's eyes were the very same blue, the very same _shape_ as Prompto's. This man was Prompto's father, and he was still willing to give him away again. Well, he wouldn't get the chance. Noctis wouldn't let him. Before he could even wind up, however, Verstael displayed another aerosol bottle, aiming it at Noctis' face. Fortunately, his encounter with Aldercapt and Loqi back in Galdin prepared him. Before Verstael could fire, Noctis knocked the bottle from the wrinkled vampire's hand, sending it flying into the treeline in the distance.

It wasn't the end of the old vampire's fight, however, because he reached out with his arm to grab the wrist that held Noctis' stake and drive it into Noctis' own rib cage. It didn't quite reach his heart, thankfully, but it was the closest he'd ever come to death since he'd been turned. Using the moment of distraction to his advantage, he threw Noctis off him, scrambled to his feet, and started advancing on Prompto.

Seemingly, that snapped Prompto back into awareness. He raised the crossbow and fired, impacting Verstael's shoulder and staggering him long enough for Noctis to scramble to his feet, too. He yanked the stake from his side and warped to Verstael again, his sword making a sickening crack of impact against the old vampire's spine. Were he a human, that would have been enough to kill him. But he wasn't. Regardless, the impact managed to stagger him even more and pull his attention from Prompto. Noctis surged forward with the stake in his hand, striking out as hard as he could. A last minute motion from Verstael made it miss his chest, and impact his shoulder instead.

Verstael, this time, tore it from his skin and advanced on Noctis with it. Noctis warped past him, to no target this time, placing himself between Verstael and Prompto. "Run, Prompto," he commanded.

"No!" was Prompto's only response. "I'm not... I _won't_ leave you!" He raised his crossbow and aimed at Verstael.

It should have touched him, warmed his heart, that Prompto was so willing to stand up to the man he'd just learned to be his father. To some degree, it did. But overpowering the feeling of warmth was a feeling of worry. Of down-to-the-gut _dread_ about what the end result of this skirmish would be. Verstael, so far, had proven to be stronger—smarter—than Loqi or Aldercapt or _any_ of the other imperial vampires that Noctis had encountered. If Prompto ran, he still had a chance. He could get back to Altissia, to the others, who would be able to protect him better than Noctis.

Verstael was back on his feet now, and Noctis was ready to deflect any attacks that the old vampire may have been planning. "You should have run when you had the chance, Sixteen," he insisted, reaching into his coat again and pulling out a small device with dozens of tiny buttons on it.

Noctis warped forward at the same time as Verstael pressed the button, and Prompto made a tiny gasp and a hiss of pain. When Noctis turned to look, he noticed that the suppressant wristband on Prompto's wrist threw off small sparks. Prompto held his wrist out in front of him helplessly, with no choice but to discard the sparking accessory. _Immediately_ , as soon as it hit the ground, the aroma of cinnamon and sunshine, which Noctis had gotten used to in the air around Prompto, _doubled_. The smell was almost _dizzying_ , and as soon as Noctis' sword impacted with Verstael—Noctis wasn't even sure where—he looked a little closer to ensure that Prompto wasn't bleeding anywhere. He wasn't, but the wristband still sparked on the ground in front of him.

Using Noctis' distraction to his advantage, Verstael surged forward, pummeling Noctis to the ground and knocking him into their cooler. The cooler itself went flying, and the contents went flying, over the open face of the cliff and to the beach below. The stake, still in Verstael's hand from before, was raised in the air. But before he could plunge it into Noctis' heart and turn him to dust, a familiar twang echoed out through the air. With a crack of impact, a stake from Prompto's crossbow hit Verstael in the chest, soaring clear into the old vampire's heart. Instantly—with the stake halfway down the path to Noctis' chest—the vampire turned to dust on top of Noctis and blew away with a light breeze that blew across the hilltop and toward the impending sunrise.

However, that breeze did absolutely no favors for Noctis, because it blew the aroma of Prompto's blood right toward him. As the stake landed on his chest and rolled down to the ground, Noctis' control, already tested every time he was close to the man he loved, waned. "Run," Noctis commanded. "Sunshine, please. Run." Noctis still lay on the ground, didn't dare move. It had been more than two days since he'd last fed. Prompto's wristband was gone. The smell, the hunger, was more overwhelming than it had been that day back in Lestallum.

In a distraction that was both a blessing and a curse, the sun decided to crest up and over the horizon then. As soon as the light hit Noctis' arm, burning his skin and making him suck in a sharp, hissing breath of pain and surprise, he realized that something was wrong. A glance at his hand determined that something had happened to his ring. He had to run, and he couldn't bring Prompto with him. He needed to get _away_ from Prompto before he did something he would regret forever. He darted over to where he'd discarded the blanket, draping it over himself and retreating in a mad dash toward a rock face in the distance. There had to be some kind of cave there. Somewhere that Noctis could force himself to hide and _hope beyond all hope_ that Prompto listened to him ran away.

But where could Prompto run? Without his wristband, he was tempting to all other vampires, wasn't he? Would he be safe back in Altissia? Noctis, with his back facing the sunrise and Prompto's aroma fading into the distance, realized that Prompto may not be safe anywhere. He reached a cave, finally, and ducked inside. In the distance, not really moving too far, he could still smell Prompto's blood. Noctis closed his eyes, the night catching up to him, then opened them, glancing down to a small puddle on the ground in the cave. Realization hit him in a wave. His eyes weren't blue.

They were bright, ruby red. He'd waited too long to feed.

 _Please, Sunshine. Please run..._ he begged internally, turning his head back toward where he'd left Prompto. Somewhere. Anywhere to put some distance between them so that Noctis wouldn't lose control and attack. When the smell of cinnamon and sunshine decreased by half, Noctis realized that he must have obeyed.

It simultaneously brought him relief and broke his heart.

Prompto had to realize that this was safest for him. Being away from Noctis, being _far_ away from Noctis. Being _anywhere else_ but near Noctis right then. Except, however far Prompto had run, the smell stopped moving again. And when it started, instead of moving further away... it got closer. "Sunshine... what are you doing?" Noctis asked no one.

Closer and closer it came, as the sky outside of the cave brightened more and more. Closer, and closer still, until Prompto appeared in the face of the cave. The smell was tolerable again. Well, tolerable was an overstatement. He was hungry. It wasn't a stomach growl like it was when he was human; instead, it felt like a burning dryness in his throat that burned all the way down to his stomach and out through each and every one of his veins. He was hungry, and the one human whose blood smelled like candy to him was drawing ever closer...

Noctis was tempted to run again, but he didn't get the chance. Prompto's blood, though it didn't smell as strong as it had when Noctis left him, drew ever closer. Much to Noctis' surprise, Prompto walked into the open mouth of the cave and closer still to Noctis where he sat. The smell wasn't as strong. But how? The wristband was broken, wasn't it? And somehow, the smell was normal. 

That didn't mean it was tolerable, however. Noctis' throat still burned and ached and being so close to Prompto, whose pulse was significantly more noticeable right then, wasn't helping. "I... I told you to run."

"I couldn't," Prompto answered, turning toward Noctis and shaking his head no. "You're... I couldn't. I found his remote and fixed the wristband. H-he didn't break it. He just... he just shocked it a little, and-" He stopped abruptly, blinking a couple of times. "Your eyes..."

Nodding dismally, Noctis looked down at the sand. "Please, Prompto. Please leave me here. I don't want to hurt you." His eyes closed, and he felt the sticky moisture of blood running down his cheeks. "I can't follow you. I lost my ring. So... s-so, if you go, I can wait until nighttime and go get some of the pouches from the cooler-"

"The cooler got knocked down..." Prompto replied. "The blood splattered on the rocks on the beach."

Of course it had. Noctis frowned. "Well... well there's some spiracorn nearby. I can-"

Prompto raked his teeth over his lip, appearing to be in thought for a split second, then stepped closer. "You don't have to," he answered.

"What do you mean?" Noctis asked, wiping some of the sticky moisture from beneath his eyes.

Swallowing nervously, Prompto stopped in front of Noctis, fearlessly crouching down in his space and bringing a warm hand up to smooth along Noctis' cheek. From this close, he could clearly see that Prompto's eyelids were puffy with previously shed tears. Of course they were. Even before Noctis had run, Verstael had dropped a massive bombshell on him. Here he was, not only finding out who his father was, but that his father was willing to give him back to the very man who had used him as a slave for his whole life. It would've been more surprising if he _wasn't_ crying. The animal screamed in Noctis' head, the smell of Prompto's blood so close to his face teasing it like holding a treat just out of a dog's reach. It was tempting, _torturous_ , and it was taking every ounce of Noctis' will to keep it at bay. Which was why Prompto's next words took Noctis so completely off guard.

"You can drink from me."


	21. Chapter 21

"No."

Prompto frowned. "You have to feed. You can't just sit here and get hungrier until it gets dark and go feed on those spiracorn. I'm right here, and I'm-"

But Noctis shook his head. "Prompto, you're not..." He met Prompto's eyes, feeling a wave of frustration at the fact that Prompto was even offering this. Noctis had spent so long trying to convince him that he was more than a meal. More than a pincushion. He'd vowed that no matter what happened, he would never _treat_ Prompto like that. But here Prompto was, suggesting that he do just that. "You're not a pincushion. Remember when I told you that? You're... you're more than just a food source. You're a person. You're..." He blinked slowly, hard, his tears bathing everything around him in a red, glassy glow.

"You're _my_ person."

More than anything, Noctis was furious with himself. How had he allowed himself to get to this point? He knew that he needed to feed. That was why he'd brought so many blood pouches with them. But he'd gotten so sidetracked, so excited about sharing the cosmogony book with Prompto, that he'd allowed it to slip his mind. And now... now he was paying for it.

Prompto either didn't seem to get it, or didn't care. He reached up, wiping away a couple of blood tears and shaking his head no. "Noct, it's not like you're taking something that I'm not offering. You're hungry. Your eyes are red. Bright red." He paused, standing up and lowering himself to sit on Noctis' lap. Warm hands still touched his face, and kind blue eyes looked at him in a silent plea. "I trust you. And I can help you."

Doubt still crept its way into Noctis' thoughts, like niggling little voices scratching at his brain. Prompto trusted him, but wasn't what he was suggesting a _betrayal_ of that trust? Why wouldn't he just leave? It wasn't like Noctis would be gone forever. There was another boat on shore. He didn't even _need_ a boat. He'd leave at nightfall, find his light ring, and then go back to Altissia. There were alternate ways to go about this. He didn't have to bite Prompto. Luna's words popped into his mind; about how if he allowed himself to get to the point Ravus had gotten to, there would be no stopping him. Would those spiracorn be enough then?

Then, he thought of another part of what Luna said. "Doesn't it feel like a violation, though? I don't-"

Prompto shook his head and shushed Noctis with a soft—very brave—kiss to the lips. "Not with you. You're my person, too. Like I said, Noct... I trust you." He leaned forward again, his lips brushing Noctis' ear and his neck inches from Noctis' lips. "Trust yourself."

It wasn't fair, especially when Prompto didn't move his neck from right in front of Noctis' face. Instead, he peppered open-mouthed kisses to Noctis' neck, breathing against Noctis' skin and brushing his own skin against Noctis' nose and lips. It was like offering a feast to a starving man. _Too_ like that, given the circumstances. And while Noctis wanted to resist, while he wanted to say no again, he couldn't. Being this close, being this hungry... he couldn't say no. 

Gently, he placed a hand on either side of Prompto's hips and stole a brief, chaste kiss. "Are you sure?" he whispered once he broke the contact, meeting his eyes and ensuring that the answer he gave was an absolute truth. That there was no doubt in his mind. No last minute uncertainty about putting this level of trust in Noctis.

"I'm sure," Prompto replied, tilting his neck just slightly so that the skin brushed against Noctis' lips.

Noctis' resolve crumbled, as it did with most things that Prompto asked of him; down to the ground and piled around his feet. Noctis wanted to say that a lot of thought went into the spot he chose to drink from. But it hadn't. The smell of Prompto's blood and the fact that he was painfully hungry muddled his senses and had him pressing an open-mouthed kiss to the first spot on Prompto's neck that his lips fell upon. With eyes closed, he pulled back from Prompto's flesh for a moment, taking one last second to insist to himself that Prompto had told him that it was _okay_ , and then gently sank his fangs into Prompto's skin.

The fact that Prompto barely reacted, beyond gasping sharply and briefly and holding tightly to Noctis' hips, proved something that Noctis already knew: Prompto had been through this far too many times. As horrible as that made him feel, though, the thought was immediately washed away by the taste of Prompto's blood sneaking its way around his fangs and into his mouth. Noctis couldn't even _begin_ to describe the taste. It was blood—it still tasted metallic and organic, warm and sticky as it dripped from his fangs and onto his tongue—but this was unlike _any_ blood he'd ever tasted before. Better. It tasted like _Prompto_.

It took a concentrated effort to make Noctis pull his fangs out of Prompto's skin, watching as some of the red liquid dripped down Prompto's throat. Noctis leaned forward and let his tongue came into contact with the skin at the end of the blood droplet. A tiny bit of shame rose up when he lapped it up like a hungry animal, but the taste was enough to drown it out for now. When he reached the puncture wounds, he surrounded them in an open-mouthed kiss. A kiss which didn't last long, instead turning into a light sucking motion, drawing the blood up to the surface.

The blood came out quicker than he expected, honestly; to the point that he stopped quickly. It didn't fill his mouth, but instead, it was barely enough to completely submerge his tongue. Not only did it _taste_ incredible, but it _felt_ incredible, too. Like eating one of Ignis' pastries after a long day. As the liquid dripped down his throat, he found that he already felt a little bit better. A little stronger. A little less hungry. That didn't necessarily mean that he felt completely in control, though. Even so, one of Prompto's hands came up to rest in Noctis' hair, encouraging him to go back for more by gently pushing his head back down.

Noctis obeyed Prompto's suggestion, once again lapping up until the puncture wounds, then closed his lips around them again, drawing more blood out. He filled his mouth a little more this time. Blood dripped down from the right corner of his mouth, from his chin and onto his shirt, but he couldn't be bothered to care right then. One more. One more and then he _had_ to stop, or else he would end up hurting Prompto. He leaned forward again, running his tongue along Prompto's neck to collect the blood that had dripped, and then took one final drink from the puncture wounds he'd left behind. This time, maybe, he drank for a little too long. But Prompto didn't stop him. Didn't complain.

Blood dripped from both sides of Noctis' mouth now, down his chin and his neck, and he swallowed the blood in his mouth slowly, letting the taste and the feeling overtake him completely. The burning in his throat, his stomach, his veins, were all gone; replaced instead with a pleasant contentment. Yes, he could absolutely have taken more. And yes, a piece of his mind was screaming at him to do exactly that. It was simultaneously easy and difficult to shut that part of him up. Difficult because Prompto's blood was almost intoxicatingly delectable. It felt like nothing he'd eaten before, even as a human. It was easy, though, because it was _Prompto_. And Prompto was so, so much more than that.

Prompto was _everything_.

With that thought in mind, Noctis brought his hands down to the hem of his shirt. He tugged upward on the fabric, using it first to wipe his face and his throat, where the droplets of Prompto's blood stopped. Turning his head, he glanced at Prompto's neck—at the puncture wounds and the blood droplets—and raked his fang over his lip. Leaning down, he licked at the blood, up until the puncture wound. Then, he bundled up his shirt and used it to press against the wound and stop the bleeding.

Turning his head to look up at Prompto, he flashed a sad smile. "Th-thank you, Sunshine..." he whispered. "I'm s-"

Prompto reached out, pressing his finger to Noctis' lips and shaking his head no. "Don't apologize, Noct. Don't. I... I'm glad. You know? I'm glad you trusted yourself. And that you... that you didn't make me run away," he murmured quietly. His face was a tiny bit paler than usual, and he looked even _more_ tired than he had before, and while Noctis was _incredibly_ grateful, he felt a little bit guilty, too.

The way Prompto was looking at him right then made Noctis feel simultaneously better and worse. He felt better because, somehow, Prompto could still look at him with the same look in his eyes. Love, soft and gentle; that same expression that warmed Noctis from the inside out every time Prompto looked at him. There was no fear, no mistrust or anger in his expression. For that reason, he felt worse, too. Like somehow, even with what he'd just done—how he'd just done exactly what Ardyn had done to Prompto for so long—he could still look at Noctis and feel anything other than fear. How he'd gotten so lucky, he would never know.

"I love you," Noctis murmured.

Prompto looked down at him, blue eyes wide, soft, and a little bit sleepy. "I love you, too," he murmured, his voice barely a whisper. He reached over and grabbed the blanket from where Noctis had let go of it, and wrapped it around the pair of them. "And I knew I could trust you, too," he added.

Noctis bit his lip. "I didn't hurt you, did I?" he asked softly, pushing a tuft of blond bangs from Prompto's face.

Shaking his head no, Prompto pressed a soft kiss to Noctis' forehead. "It pinched a little when you bit me," he explained, "but after that... it was kind of... hot?" Pale cheeks pinkened, even more obvious with slight change in his skin tone.

That wasn't the answer he expected. Not at all. He was glad that it hadn't hurt, but that it felt _good_ , that he _enjoyed_ it, was the last thing he expected. "Really?" he asked, blinking a couple of times.

"Yeah," Prompto murmured. "It's like... it felt so different than any other time. You were gentle. And you... you actually stopped. Maybe it's just because it's you, or maybe it's the setting. Or maybe... maybe it's something else. I don't know. But I liked it."

With a bashful smile, Noctis shrugged his head to the side. "You never cease to amaze me, you know that?" he whispered, unhooking the blanket from Prompto and pulling him close. "Every single wall we find, you break it down. You got me to trust myself enough to let myself be around you. To let myself kiss you. To let myself _drink_ from you. You're amazing." Noctis leaned against the rock wall behind him, and pulled Prompto with him.

Prompto shrugged and resumed that same old position that they'd gotten used to. One leg on either side of Noctis' hips, his eyes locked on Noctis'. "You make me happy," he explained. "So, I want to make you happy, too." After a pause, which he used to drape the blanket over them again, Prompto leaned his body close to Noctis'.

Noctis carded his fingers through Prompto's hair. "Happy. Speaking of... are... are you alright?" he asked. "After what just happened, I mean. With-"

"Verstael?" Prompto asked, his voice a little bit shaky. "I... don't know. I should probably feel something. I mean, I do. I was always curious. When Ardyn told me my mom's name, I always wondered what _his_ name was. Who he was. I think on some level, I am sad. Angry, even. I just... if it had to come down to a choice between him or you, it was always going to be you, Noct. Always."

 _It was always going to be you._ Noctis couldn't help it. He reached up, put his hand on the back of Prompto's neck, and pulled him in for a kiss. Maybe it would've been wiser to respond with words. His mouth probably tasted like blood, Prompto was probably tired, they were trapped until night time... there were so many reasons that he probably should have _said_ something instead of kissing him. But he couldn't help it. Prompto, it seemed, didn't mind either. He brought a hand up to caress Noctis' cheek and leaned his forehead against Noctis' when the kiss broke.

Prompto pulled his lower lip into his mouth and ran his fingers through Noctis' hair. There was a look in his sleepy eyes, _very_ similar to the one he'd worn the night prior when they lay on the hilltop. Or maybe somewhere in the back corner of Noctis' mind, he was just wishing that it was there. But he didn't think so. He thought so even less, too, when Prompto dipped his head down and started pressing warm kisses to Noctis' neck. In fact, most thought of _anything_ aside from how incredible Prompto's skin felt against his completely drained from his mind.

"Aren't you tired?" Noctis asked him, his voice a little breathier than he'd meant for it to be.

With a nod, Prompto shrugged his head to the side. "A little." Another kiss, to Noctis' shoulder. "A lot, actually." And another, to the crook of Noctis' neck. "But... I also..." He leaned in close, kissing Noctis' jaw just below his ear, and then whispered, "really want to pick up where we left off last night before, you know... all of that stuff happened."

Prompto's breath tickled Noctis' ear and the words drizzled inside like honey. Like they were exactly what he needed to hear. His hands still held loosely to Prompto's hips, and a little grin crossed his face. "I think we can arrange that."

Noctis removed the blanket from Prompto's shoulders and urged him to stand. Though he was hesitant, he obeyed, and got to his feet in the sand. Noctis toed his shoes and socks off and stepped onto the blankets, watching in amusement as Prompto followed suit—in addition to tugging his shirt up and over his head, and discarding it to the sand next to Noctis'. The pair of them sat on the blanket together, and Noctis urged Prompto to lay on his back like he had been up on the hilltop. Just as he had back then, too, Prompto propped himself up on his elbows to watch what Noctis did next. Curious. Eager.

And god was it sexy as hell.

Admittedly, with all the interruptions they'd had every time they tried to do this, Noctis was a little hesitant. He half-expected the cave to crumble, or some other random being to appear on the island and interrupt them. But as he hooked his fingers into the waistband of Prompto's jeans, he realized that this time, _maybe_ , that wasn't going to happen. He opened the button, then the zipper, then tugged, gently urging Prompto to raise his hips from the blanket. When he did, in one fell swoop, Noctis removed both pants and boxers, revealing a whole new range of skin.

It wasn't the first time Noctis had seen Prompto without _pants_ , no. But it _was_ the first time Noctis had seen Prompto without _anything_ on. He took in the new skin, paler than the rest and unblemished by bite marks like the rest of him, and a lopsided smile crossed his face.

"What?" Prompto asked, examining Noctis closely with a nervous blush on his cheeks.

Crawling back up Prompto's body, Noctis shook his head in an attempt to dispel any worries Prompto might've had. "Just... you look really fucking hot naked," he commented, pressing his lips to Prompto's jawline. "Better than I could've imagined."

Prompto laughed an awkward, embarrassed laugh. "I always kinda... kinda thought I looked weird. The bite marks up here, and then they just... stop. But I'm, uh... I'm glad you think so." He smoothed his fingers along Noctis' back.

"I do," Noctis murmured against Prompto's skin. "Think everything about you is hot."

And with that, Noctis' kisses moved to pepper along Prompto's chest. Some open-mouthed, some closed-mouthed. The taste of Prompto's flesh was almost as intoxicating as the taste of his blood. Noctis' tongue ran brushed against Prompto's right nipple, and Prompto let out a soft, breathing cry. That sound... if Noctis hadn't been halfway interested already, that still would have been enough to get him all the way there on its own. His eyes flicked upward to see that Prompto was still resting on his elbows, but his head was hanging back a little bit, displaying his Adam's apple, and his whole neck. All vulnerable and open... Noctis decided Prompto looked the hottest that he'd ever been.

The soft little whimper of protest that Prompto gave when Noctis stopped touching him for a moment was equal parts adorable and sexy, too. It made Noctis' grin raise up even higher. "I'll be right back, I promise," he told Prompto. He made quick work of unbuttoning and unzipping his pants, but didn't kick them off right away.

Instead, he moved his body just slightly so that he was positioned between Prompto's legs. Crawling over his body, Noctis balanced himself on one hand, leaning in for a kiss and brushing searching fingertips up Prompto's bare chest. The trail ended at his jaw, where Noctis moved three fingers toward Prompto's lips. "Can you wet these for me?" he asked, tracing Prompto's lower lip with his index finger.

Prompto nodded, parting his lips and running his tongue along each of Noctis' fingers. Heightened senses meant that he felt things like this a little more than he used to. A tongue on his fingertips didn't used to be this much of a turn on, but as Noctis' dick pressed against the fabric of his boxers—and against Prompto's thigh—he realized exactly how untrue that was now. It was _definitely_ a turn on. A _huge_ one.

He took his fingers back, pressing a kiss to Prompto's lips and using his own lips to clean off a little bit of extra saliva that had dribbled out when he'd removed his fingers from Prompto's mouth. When he broke the all-too-brief kiss, and repositioned himself between Prompto's legs, he brought his hand down and glanced back up at Prompto, wordlessly asking for permission.

The responding gaze he got from Prompto was questioning, but not disapproving, so rather than respond with words, Noctis took care to slide one finger inside of Prompto. Gently, softly. Getting him used to the new pressure. He seemed okay, though. More than okay, actually, if the way he rolled his hips against Noctis' finger was any indication. Leaning down, Noctis ran his tongue along Prompto's length at the same time as he pushed the second finger inside. When Prompto responded by rolling his hips again, and squirming against Noctis' fingers, Noctis couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle.

Noctis' fangs wouldn't allow him to do what he wanted to do and take Prompto's length into his mouth—it was too risky; the last thing he wanted was to risk hurting Prompto—so instead, he peppered open-mouthed kisses to Prompto's thighs, his groin, his abdomen, and then let his hand come to place around Prompto's dick in place of his mouth. His right hand—with a third finger pressed inside of Prompto now—teased and stretched, while his left hand found a comfortable rhythm to match.

When the attention stopped, Prompto made another protesting whimper. Noctis couldn't help but laugh a little bit this time. Noctis took both of his hands back, crawled back up Prompto's body, leaned right up next to his ear, and whispered, "can I?"

Noctis never expressed what the rest of that question was, but it didn't seem like he needed to. Prompto understood. "Yeah," was his answer, before he captured Noctis' lips with his for a hungry kiss.

After the kiss broke, Noctis stood for a second, kicking his jeans and boxers off. They were _somewhere_ over by the rock they'd been sitting on before, which was absolutely fine by Noctis. He turned back to look at Prompto, who was looking at him with a lopsided smirk on his own face. Embarrassment flushed Noctis' features, and once again he was happy he couldn't blush. His body was paler and cold, but Prompto was still looking at him like he was beautiful. Flawless. And if Noctis hadn't already been head over heels in love, that would have absolutely done it.

When Noctis knelt down between Prompto's legs again, he placed a hand on each of Prompto's hips and raised them up. "Are you sure?" he asked.

Prompto responded with a nod. "Uh huh," he spoke.

Noctis swallowed thickly, moving one hand to his dick to hold it in position, then rocked his hips forward. A little bit first. Not the whole thing. Ease Prompto into it. He pulled back, pushed forward again, and then pushed in a little more. And then again, and again, until he was completely surrounded by Prompto's warmth. Prompto lay back, panting and slightly pained—likely because of the lack of proper lube—but all the same, he hooked his ankles around Noctis' waist and used his hands to push himself into a seated position. He reached out, silently asking for help to get onto Noctis' lap, and Noctis nodded, reaching down to help him up.

Before Noctis could even ask if he was okay, he crashed their lips together and started rocking his hips in Noctis' lap.

Admittedly, Noctis was taken way, way off guard at first. He placed his hands lightly against Prompto's ribs, before gently starting to rock his own hips to match Prompto's motions. Whether it was the heightened senses, or just the fact that this was Prompto, or maybe a mix of both, the mix of the sounds coming from Prompto and the warmth of his body around Noctis', his breath on Noctis' skin, the slick of the sweat beading on Prompto's skin, just... felt incredible. Better than it had when he was human. When a particularly languid motion brought a sharp gasp from Prompto, Noctis quirked a grin against his lips. His hands moved down to Prompto's hips to hold them gently in place, before repeating that exact same motion. Over and over again, until Prompto tumbled over the edge, grabbing tight hold of Noctis' shoulders and burying his head against the right one.

The increase in pressure when Prompto's body tensed, as well as the pleasant warmth of his breath in Noctis' neck, sent Noctis toppling over the edge too. Euphoria rippled its way through his body; more intense than it felt when he was human. He tingled, his hands accidentally clinging a little too tight to Prompto's shoulder blades as he rode the waves. As soon as he realized what he was doing, though, he loosened his grip and murmured an apology into Prompto's ear.

"It's okay," Prompto murmured in response, before pushing Noctis back on the blanket so that he was laying down.

With Noctis on his back, Prompto grabbed the corner of the blanket and wrapped it around them. Noctis smirked at how Prompto nestled into his shoulder, then it changed to a loving smile when Prompto's sleepy eyes turned toward his. "Bet you're even more tired now," he said, half-joking.

Prompto chuckled and nodded his head. "You can say that again," he murmured. "But I think I'll take tired. 'Cause I was starting to wonder if we'd ever get to do that."

Noctis laughed and smoothed his fingers through Prompto's hair. "You've got plenty of time to sleep now," he pointed out. "I can't exactly go anywhere until the sun goes down, so when it does, we can go and look for my ring." His eyes fell upon his hand as he ran his fingers through Prompto's hair. He'd gotten so used to having the ring there, that it not being there was kind of weird.

"It can't have gotten far," Prompto mused around a yawn, sleep already starting to take him.

As Prompto nodded off to sleep, Noctis smiled, staring up at the craggy cave ceiling. It wasn't ideal. It wasn't even _close_ to ideal, actually. Prompto had gotten his heart crushed with the knowledge of his birth father and Noctis had been forced to run. The others were probably worried out of their minds back at home. Noctis would likely be in for either a long silent treatment or a longer lecture. But right now, only just for the moment, he felt like he was on top of the world. Like everything was okay.


	22. Chapter 22

It hadn't taken long for them to find the light ring, actually. Noctis had found it in the grass when they'd gone to gather the blanket. It had bounced or rolled underneath the blanket, and Noctis had instantly felt a hundred thousand times better as soon as he'd put it back on his finger. After Noctis went to find from that pack of spiracorn, then taken down two of them to completely fill himself up, they were finally ready to head home. They made quick work of packing their bags back up, and fortunately for Prompto, some of his snacks hadn't been harmed so he'd still been able to eat on the boat ride back to Altissia. He'd still been a little bit groggy, understandably, and somehow he'd managed to fall back asleep as he rode in the passenger's seat of the boat.

Ignis had been just as livid as Noctis expected him to be when they got home, too. To a degree, Noctis was sure he understood. Still, the fact remained that everything Ignis said was absolutely correct. Noctis should have told someone where he was taking Prompto. He _definitely_ should have fed at some point. He'd made so many stupid mistakes, and he was fully aware of them. But he'd also done something right. He'd managed to maintain control enough not to take too much blood from Prompto, and Ignis had expressed pride that he was finally learning to trust himself more. Through the tirade of angry yelling and frustration, Ignis had pointed out pride in him for that. He'd also admitted—somewhat hesitantly—that he'd been drinking from Gladio for weeks now, and that he'd been toying with suggesting that Noctis try to drink from Prompto at least once. Noctis was glad that he hadn't. Outside of the situation that they were in... he doubted it would have gone well.

Things fell into a comfortable normal for them after that, though. After a few days, Ignis eventually forgave him and they started to move past Noctis' mistakes. And then, for the most part, it was back to the way it had been for the first couple of weeks that they were in Altissia. Prompto was a little bit mopey for the first few days after returning home, sadness at realizing that his father was the reason he'd been enslaved for so many years. Sadness at the fact that his mother was still out there somewhere, and sadness at the fact that the _only person_ who knew where she was, was most likely Ardyn.

And then, Luna and Ignis had vowed to research that with him. That was where they were today. Ignis and Luna took Prompto to the library, and then to the town hall; Gladio and Nyx were out for a beer, and while Noctis _wanted_ to go along, sitting and drinking a mug of blood while his friends drank a beer didn't sound like much fun to him. Maybe next time, if he wasn't the only one.

For now, though, it was occurring to him that it was his first time home alone. There was always _someone_ there with him, but right now... it was just him. Quietly, he pondered Prompto, a smile crossing his face as he stared up at the ceiling. Literally nothing about them was simple. Even something so simple as _being_ together was sometimes a strain. A strain worth enduring, but a strain no less. It was simultaneously a little better and a little worse, now that he knew what Prompto's blood tasted like. Nothing else that he'd drank since then tasted quite as good. Even his supply of AB+ just... didn't do the trick. But he wasn't going to become like Ardyn. He _refused_ to.

Of course, that didn't change that Prompto had offered. It was actually one of the first things he'd done, as the pair of them collected all of the remnants of their ruined date. The offer was open-ended. Not an offer for right then, but an offer for a drink any time Noctis wanted, if he wanted to. Noctis _did_ want to. But at the same time, he absolutely didn't, and he told Prompto that. Finding out that Ignis and Gladio had actually been doing that for months now was a bit of a confusing head spin for Noctis, but it didn't change anything. 

It was different for Ignis and Gladio for many, many reasons. First of all, Gladio's blood replenished much, much faster. Werewolves healed faster, and their bodies were always working in overdrive to ensure that they were working at optimal capacity. So, every three days was absolutely fine for Gladio. For Prompto, that would keep him weak. Just like Ardyn had for all those years. Which was exactly the second point: Gladio _hadn't_ been a blood slave for his whole life. He hadn't been terrorized by being weakened near death, then left to care for himself afterward. So, no; he didn't judge Ignis or Gladio for being willing to do that. But, no; he wouldn't be doing it himself.

That didn't change the fact that, compared to the way Prompto's blood tasted and smelled, this just wasn't the same. It was like following a fresh, homemade, rice bowl with Cup Noodles. Both were good, but one was obviously superior. One was obviously preferred. Still, he finished it. Wiping the remnants from the corners of his mouth, he glanced around the living room and decided that he really didn't feel like being by himself right now. The library wasn't far. A couple of blocks to the west, and a quick gondola ride away. So, heading to the door, he tugged it open and let it swing closed behind him.

Down the stairs, passing a couple of their neighbors—one of whom was a rude old woman, who always seemed to look at Noctis like he was some kind of monster—he stepped out into the rainy Altissia afternoon. Groaning because he'd forgotten his hoodie upstairs and his hair would be a sopping mess by the time he got to the library, he pondered going back inside; back upstairs. He shook his head, though, opting to just run.

Before he could make it even two steps, though, something caught his ear that made him stop dead. The voice was familiar. Sweet and feminine, friendly and excitable, eagerly marveling at all of the things she passed like they were the most fascinating thing she'd ever seen. A second female voice joined shortly thereafter—not familiar, not like the first one was—but Noctis was still too focused on the first voice to pay any mind. He turned toward the sound, craning his neck to look around and follow it in hopes that maybe he could see its carrier.

Sure enough, after a few steps, he spotted a familiar head of brown hair among the crowd. His eyes widened and he ended up sprinting to close the distance between them. "Iris!" he shouted, catching the attention of Gladio's little sister where she stood in front of a shop, as well as the other brunette with her.

The second brunette—obvious in her vampirism now that Noctis wasn't so focused on following Iris' voice to get to her—rushed to stand in front of Iris before Noctis could completely close the distance, but then stopped, blinking a couple of times as she looked him over. "P-Prince Noctis?" she asked, amazed.

Iris, too, seemed to notice Noctis then. She put a hand on the vampire girl's bicep, flashing her a calm—but not even _remotely_ calm at the same time—smile. When she stepped around the girl, she closed the distance between her and Noctis in two bounding steps and threw her arms around his neck. "Noct!" she shouted excitedly, unfazed by how cold his skin likely felt. "When I read that tabloid, I thought... I was _so worried_ and..." She buried her head in his shoulder, the excitement faded into shaky tears.

The animal in his mind called his attention to how her blood smelled good, too. Not nearly as good as Prompto's... but pretty damn good. He tamped it down, pushed it back, and hugged her loosely.

Over her shoulder, the other girl—she couldn't have been _too_ much older than Iris when she'd been turned; a few years, maybe—bit her lip nervously. "She was pretty worried," the girl stammered. "I found her asking questions in Cauthess, which isn't really a safe place for humans to hang around and..."

"You came after us?" Noctis asked, cutting the other girl off and pulling Iris back from the hug to meet her eyes.

Iris nodded, a little bit of irritation bubbling up around the happiness and tears. "Of _course_ I did!" she scoffed, smacking Noctis in the arm and glaring at him. "You and Iggy left without saying anything, and Gladdy... I found out Gladdy was _alive_ and... what was I _supposed_ to do? I mean... daddy tried to tell me not to, and so did your dad, but I begged them and they decided to let me and... and..." She sniffled, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand and throwing her arms around Noctis again.

"I'm sorry, Iris. The tabloid thing was kind of us trying to let you know that we were all okay. That we were together and that-"

Scoffing, Iris shook her head against his shoulder. "And if you _honestly_ thought that I wasn't gonna come and find you after that then you're dumber than I thought," she murmured against the hem of his shirt.

Noctis couldn't help but laugh a little bit at that, squeezing her loosely. "I'm sorry," he repeated. "But it wasn't like I could just seek you out, you know? I wasn't allowed to come back to town, and I wasn't..." He thought back to how he'd been when he'd first turned, after he'd killed Ignis. Uncontrollable. A horrible monster. He didn't want to think of what he'd have done to Iris if he saw her. "I wasn't as calm then as I am now. I was-"

She scoffed again. "I don't care! You can't come find me? _Call_ me! Call me and tell me that you found Gladdy! You still have a phone, right?" she asked.

While she was somewhat right, Noctis shook his head. "We were afraid that... well, that this would happen. If we called you. Gladio didn't want you to try and brave the world outside the wall, Iris. It's... well, you've seen it now. You've seen how rough it can be. How did you even know how to find us?" he asked her.

The other girl glanced down at the ground sheepishly, but then Iris turned to look at her. "My new friend Crowe helped me," she explained.

"When, uh... when Iris told me that she was looking for her brother and his friends, I told her I'd help her find them, and then I was totally shocked when she showed me a picture of you guys together." The other vampire, Crowe, ran a hand through her hair. "I thought she was nuts at first. Thought she was just some Caelum family fan who met you once. But then she showed me more pictures of all of you together and..." She shrugged. "I knew you went at least to Altissia, because I was, um... I was in Galdin Quay, down the beach a ways, when you boarded the ferry."

Noctis smiled softly, nodding his gratitude. "Well thanks, Crowe. I appreciate you helping her."

"She did more than help me!" Iris nodded eagerly. "We had trouble with some imperial vampires when we got to the Quay. Some jerks who were looking for you guys, you know? Crowe was _so awesome_. She took them all on by herself, Noct! She kept me safe and made sure that I got here in one piece!"

Crowe laughed awkwardly. "I mean... it's not a big deal," she commented with a shrug.

Iris shook her head, abandoning her quest to hug Noctis impossibly tighter for a moment to wipe her eyes and squeeze Crowe's shoulder. "It's a _huge_ deal!" she insisted. "Because now I get to see Noct and my brothers again! And we get to see Altissia and I _totally_ want to drag you for a ride on one of the gondolas!" Pausing, Iris turned toward Noctis and tilted her head. "Speaking of my brothers. Where are they?"

Brothers. That made Noctis smile a little bit. Ignis, with no blood family of his own, had been all but adopted into the Amicitia family since he and Gladio really became serious. "Gladio's at the bar with a friend we met. And Iggy's with Luna and Prompto at the library."

"The library?" Iris asked. "Prompto? Oh, the blond from the tabloid pictures?"

Noctis nodded his head. "It's... a really, really long story." He paused, chuckling a breath. "I'll tell you what. Come with me to the library—or to the bar that Gladio's at, your call—and I'll tell you guys on the way there?" He pointed down the street, toward both establishments, and offered Iris and Crowe a smile.

After Iris chose to go to the bar to see Gladio, Noctis dove into telling the story. He started by explaining what happened with Ardyn, and what happened with Ignis the next day. At first, Iris was horrified, before Crowe jumped to Noctis' defense and explained that the time after turning for a vampire is very, very difficult. She explained everything that Noctis had been feeling at the moment— _"It's like no matter what you do, nothing fills you up. You're starving, Iris. Can't control your mind or your impulses, and you're like..._ starving _. It's a miracle he was even able to stop at all,"_ Crowe had explained—and Iris was far more receptive.

Next, he wove the tale of what happened when they left Insomnia and got to Leide. About Hammerhead, and how Ignis completely lost his mind, and almost lost control, after seeing and smelling Gladio. When he explained that somehow he'd managed to maintain control, she was impressed. That quickly molded into horror—for both Iris _and_ Crowe—when he explained Prompto's circumstance. He tried to sugar coat it, but there was really no way to. Everything that Prompto had been through was terrible. Undeserved and terrible.

"I'd always heard that the empire was really, really shady, but I didn't know that... shit, that's awful," Crowe muttered, shaking her head.

Iris was still quiet, horrified and staring down at her feet as they walked down the street. "As awesome as people can be sometimes, sometimes they can be really, really lousy," she murmured.

There was a barely concealed comment in the back of Noctis' throat about the empire and Ardyn having long since discarded their humanity. But he bit it back, agreeing with both Iris and Crowe before continuing the story. He told them of Lestallum, of how Ignis discovered that Gladio was safe when he shifted. Perhaps it wasn't the best thing to tell Gladio's baby sister, because it was likely that she'd insist on going in with him next month, but it was too late to take it back now. He'd have to apologize later. If Gladio would forgive him.

Continuing the story, he carefully avoided saying too much about his relationship with Prompto—not because he was embarrassed, but because Iris would latch onto that and needle him endlessly for information... he knew it, and he wanted to put it off for as long as he possibly could—he moved on to the boat to Altissia, and how Noctis had stayed behind to ensure that the others made it safely. At the mention of running into Luna and Nyx, though, Crowe's expression changed drastically. Her eyes widened and her posture straightened, and she stopped walking completely.

"Nyx? What was his last name?!" she asked.

Noctis arched an eyebrow, but answered her question. "Ulric. Why?"

With jaw agape, Crowe stepped in front of Noctis and blinked. "Where is he? Is he here too, or...?" Her tone was desperate, pleading. Like this wasn't just any old someone. Like it was someone she'd been seeking for a lifetime. Brown eyes locked right on Noctis' and waited impatiently for an answer.

"Um, down the road this way. And a gondola ride..." Noctis explained, pointing down the street. "He's with Gladio at the bar. Why?"

Iris joined Crowe in front of Noctis, practically bouncing on the balls of her feet as she spoke. "Noct! Noct, Crowe has been looking for Nyx for like... _ten years_! Since he disappeared! She got turned while she was out trying to find him and she's been looking _all over the place_ for him!" she explained, shaking Noctis' shoulder.

The brunette vampire's expression was growing increasingly impatient, and Crowe nodded vehemently along with what Iris was saying. "I've come so close, so many times. But he moves around so damn much and it's... it's so frustrating, but..." she trailed off.

Laughing softly, Noctis motioned beyond them, down the street. "Well, he's at the bar this way. If you want to get there, you're gonna have to-"

Before Noctis could even finish talking, each girl had grabbed hold of one of his arms. Crowe's grip was tighter, and her pull was harder than Iris', for obvious reasons, but that didn't mean that Iris was any less serious or passionate about making sure that he moved faster. As soon as Noctis stopped moving, Crowe scooped Iris up off the ground and encouraged Noctis to run.

"You guys. You realize we have to take the gondola, right?" he asked them with a laugh as he picked up speed behind them.

The whole gondola ride was completely silent. Iris bounced with excitement—the gondola operator had asked her to stop no fewer than five times over the course of the short trip to get to Maagho—and Crowe just focused singularly on the horizon. Iris, when she finally stopped bouncing, placed a supportive hand on Crowe's shoulder, but Crowe barely reacted, beyond turning to Iris with a gentle smile. By the time the gondola slowed to a stop, Noctis was already canvassing the bar at Maagho to see if he could find either of his two friends. Before he'd even looked, Crowe was already on her feet and crossing the bar with vampire speed, and Iris was moving right behind her. Noctis chuckled and tipped the gondola driver, stepping off the boat and onto the wooden floor. He approached from behind the group of four, just in time to see Iris throwing her arms around Gladio and shake with convulsive sobs.

"G-Gladdy..." she murmured in a soft whisper against his shoulder.

It didn't seem like it had registered with Gladio, what was going on. After a couple of seconds, though, his brain caught up with the rest of him, and he raised his arms, wrapping them around Iris in a tight—but not too tight—hug. "What are you doing here, Iris?" he asked her.

While Iris explained—with a combination of relief and irritation—why and how she'd gotten here, Noctis' eyes moved over to Crowe and Nyx. The pair just stared, wide-eyed, at one another. It made perfect sense, of course. Ten years was a long time to wonder if someone was dead or alive. Ten years was a really, _really_ long time to miss a close friend. At least, Noctis assumed that they were close friends.

Nyx, too, was staring at Crowe in wide-eyed wonder, like he was staring at a ghost from his past that he never thought he'd see again. "Crowe..." His voice was barely a whisper, but Noctis' enhanced senses allowed him to hear it loud and clear. His eyes were wide, and his jaw hung open. "Is... is it really you?"

" _Yeah_ , it's me, you idiot! I've been looking for you since..." Crowe trailed off, shaking her head hard and closing the distance between them, wrapping her arms around him in an intense hug.

Grunting, Nyx wiggled in Crowe's grip—an amusing sight, given how much smaller Crowe was than him—but he eventually freed an arm enough to wrap around her and hug her. "Well, if you missed me or want me to stay alive," he strangled, "you might wanna loosen your grip." The words were accompanied by a strangled laugh.

Crowe scoffed and made some kind of muttered comment calling Nyx an ass, but loosened her grip all the same. "Not my fault you're a weak and smelly werewolf." Her voice was shaking with barely-concealed tears, which she choked out in a sob.

"Least I don't smell like a bloodsucking hooker," Nyx teased her back, his own voice shakier than Noctis had ever heard it in the short time he'd known the man.

The fifth wheel feeling had Noctis considering taking his phone out and calling his dad. Considering, but not doing it yet. Part of his mind _wanted_ to, but the rest of him knew exactly how difficult it would be. He _missed_ his dad, he really did. That same part of him wanted to call and see how things were in Insomnia without him around. What had been decided about the future of the country without him there? As curious as he was, though, he wasn't sure he could really handle hearing the answer. There was no way a vampire could ever really be royalty or anything. Did that mean that Insomnia was doomed, or would his dad just have to produce another heir? _Could_ his dad do that?

He forced those thoughts out of his mind, turning his head to focus instead on happy thoughts. Like the two reunions happening in front of him.


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to check out [Lunar Calendar](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9847745/chapters/22099289) by my good friend [nicoleiacross](http://archiveofourown.org/users/nicoleiacross/pseuds/nicoleiacross)! It's a Gladnis companion piece to this story and it's absolutely excellent! ♥♥♥

The reunions only continued when they all met up back at Noctis and Prompto's apartment. Iris gave Ignis the third-degree, the _exact_ same amount of third-degree that she'd given Gladio and Noctis when she'd first seen them. It made sense, of course. As much merit and reason as there was to their methods, to Iris it must have been _incredibly_ painful. She had every right to be mad. As it usually was, though, Iris' anger never really lasted too long. Especially not when she was as relieved as she was to be with her brother again. Sure, once in awhile, she'd give him crap about disappearing on her, but that was just sisterly teasing.

Crowe was starry-eyed the very second she'd seen Luna, and even _more_ so when Luna pointed out that she and Nyx were dating— _"you? With_ him? _Well_ hell _Nyx, aren't you a lucky guy!"_ —but despite her endless ribbing, she actually seemed pretty supportive of the pairing. Even if she always insisted that Nyx was probably the envy of every single guy from Niflheim to Insomnia.

Prompto, for his part, had instantly bonded with Iris. The pair of them were both so upbeat and positive, and they fed upon each other's energy and became even _more_ upbeat and positive. Plus, Noctis had to figure that having a human friend—someone who was bound to the physical pains and weaknesses of humanity like he was—to talk to was doing him some good. Once again, their group had grown. Once again, they had a couple of new members of their family. As weird and dysfunctional as it was, it was theirs and Noctis loved it. 

Initially, they had no idea how long Crowe and Iris were going to stay, but the longer Crowe was around, the less she wanted to leave now that she'd found her old friend again. Iris didn't want to leave Gladio and Ignis behind, either, so for the time being, Iris was bunking at Gladio and Ignis' apartment, and Crowe was kind of just floating among the groups, since she didn't sleep. She tended to stay at Luna and Nyx's apartment a little more often, though. Gladio had been relegated to the couch, which he both complained about and did willingly for his sister.

Noctis, for his part, was endlessly happy for all or his friends. Old friends, new friends, and an expanding family were all things to be happy about. He _still_ couldn't help a pang of bitter sadness, though. In quiet moments, when things were dying down for the night or when Prompto was sleeping wrapped around his body, he still fought with the instinct to reach for his phone. Maybe it would have made sense to talk to someone about it, to one of his friends; to Prompto. Not yet, though. Noctis didn't want to ruin everyone's good time. They were all enjoying themselves, and after everything they'd been through recently... they'd earned it.

Today, no one else was at the apartment. Moments alone with Prompto weren't _rare_ these days, but they were definitely less common than they used to be when it had just been Ignis, Gladio, Noctis, and Prompto making their way across Lucis. It wasn't a complaint. Not even remotely. Noctis loved having so many people around. That said, it made him appreciate moments like this all the more, when Prompto lay with his head in Noctis' lap, filtering through the week's pictures on his camera and smiling like he didn't have a care in the world. That smile, Prompto should never smile any other kind of smile, he decided. It was soft, but honest, and the way it lit up his whole face made Noctis quirk a smile of his own.

Turning his head back to look up at the TV, Noctis smoothed a hand through his hair and then reached for his glass of blood on the end table. As he took a drink, his mind wandered back to his dad again. Clarus, too. With all of their children gone now, were they okay? There wasn't a doubt in Noctis' mind that they were worried. Iris had called a couple of times, spoken to her dad, and he was pretty sure that Gladio had spoken to _his_ dad, too. In the back of Noctis' mind, it made him wonder why the Crown City couldn't adopt similar strategies to peaceful living that Lestallum and Altissia had. For the most part, there wasn't a lot to worry about in either of those cities. Sure, there was crime. But there was crime everywhere. The Crown City wasn't even immune from it, with all of the exiles, laws, and special procedures they had in place.

Before Noctis realized it, he was sighing and staring blankly into his glass.

That gathered Prompto's attention, and he turned from his camera, flicking his eyes to Noctis and tilting his head in question. His upside down gaze asked what was wrong, and his words followed shortly thereafter. "You okay, Noct?" he asked, setting the camera on the coffee table. "You're a little out of it."

Was he okay? Noctis shrugged his head to the side and puffed an unnecessary breath through his nose. "Yeah." He probably could have left it at that, but he decided against it. "But no. I've been thinking about the Crown City a lot. About my dad." With a sheepish expression, he took another drink from his glass before setting it down on the counter.

"Oh. Yeah, I guess that makes sense," Prompto admitted, sitting up and sliding his body slightly closer to Noctis'. "I mean, you guys get Iris back. Nyx gets Crowe back. Me and Luna see each other again. But your family is..." Frowning, Prompto raked his teeth over his lip. "It must suck."

Noctis was a little embarrassed that he was that see-through, but at the same time, he wasn't really surprised. Prompto knew him well, even over such a short time together. "It doesn't suck, no." And he meant that. "I'm glad Iris is with us. Crowe, too. I'm glad Gladio got to talk to his dad and I'm glad that our group is as big as it is now. I'm glad everyone's happy. I just keep... thinking back. You know? To my dad, and to what's happening back in the Crown City. Maintaining the wall was already hard on my dad. What's he going to do? He doesn't have an heir anymore. Does he have another plan in place or..." Or was the Crown City in trouble? What if something happened to his dad?

After a soft sigh, Prompto went quiet for a moment, staring down at his hands. "Have you thought about calling him?" he asked, reaching down and taking Noctis' hand in his, twining their fingers.

"I have," Noctis confessed. "A lot, especially recently." He ran his tongue over his left fang nervously. "But part of me is like... is it a good idea? It was hard saying goodbye once. Like, _really_ hard. Not just because I was devastated, because I knew that it was probably goodbye for good. That I'd never see him again."

Prompto reached a hand out and placed it on Noctis' cheek. "Who says it was goodbye for good?" he asked.

Chuckling a humorless laugh, Noctis shrugged his head. "The exile on non-humans in the Crown City does. I'm not allowed back in there. Neither are Ignis or Gladio. The empire's seen to it that all non-humans are seen as villains, you know? Whether they are or not. Like, I get why. We're dangerous. Deadly. But..."

"But nothing," Prompto interjected. "You're not dangerous, now that you can control yourself. I mean, I'm more likely to fall down the stairs and break my neck than for you to ever bite me without me saying it's okay."

With another humorless laugh, Noctis pointed out, "as long as I'm not a damn idiot again and don't get so distracted by kisses and cosmogony to feed."

Prompto's fingers went up to his neck, ghosting over the fading bite scars that Noctis had left behind and shrugging a shoulder. "I don't know, I'm pretty okay with how that night turned out, aren't you?" he murmured, flashing a flirty smile Noctis' way as he raised Noctis' hand to his lips and pressed a warm kiss against pale knuckles.

Noctis chuckled. "More than okay," he agreed.

A couple of beats of silence, where the only sound ringing out through the apartment was the sound of whatever movie was on TV at the moment, and Prompto spoke up again. "I think you should call your dad," he admitted, his tone quiet and embarrassed, but also completely sincere. "It might be painful. It'll _definitely_ be painful. But... I think you deserve to hear his voice again." Pressing his lips together, he stared at their intertwined hands. "I mean... he's your dad. He's a good one, and he loves you. You know? So... it's not fair that the two of you don't get to talk to each other."

It made Noctis consider Verstael, and consider how Prompto must have been feeling. "I... don't mean to dredge up painful topics. I-"

Prompto shook his head no. "I'm okay. I mean, I'm not okay. But I..." He paused, glancing up to meet Noctis' eyes again. "If that situation taught me anything, it's that good parents should be appreciated. When I was a kid, I wondered who my parents were and what they were like. You know? I had these dreams. That they would come to get me out of there one day, and I'd find out that they were like... this nice, normal family." He laughed a bitter, soft note.

Once again, Noctis considered Verstael. Prompto had these dreams of a normal family, a normal life, while he was being held in captivity. And one of the people responsible for _giving_ him that horrible life was one of the people who _should_ have been responsible for giving him the normal life he wanted. "Sunshine, I-"

Shaking his head no, Prompto smiled sadly despite the fact that there were tears shining in the corners of his eyes. "It's... I'm okay." This time, he didn't correct himself. "I have a family now, even if it's not exactly _normal_. But, um... if there's anything that I've figured out, it's that if you have good parents... if you have a good family... you should never let yourself lose them." He shrugged his head to the side. "It might be hard. It might be _really_ hard. But... I bet he misses you as much as you miss him, Noct. And I think just knowing that he's okay, just hearing his voice... it'll be good for you."

Prompto wasn't meeting Noctis' eyes. He stared down at their entwined hands, like he expected Noctis to be angry, but how _could_ Noctis be angry? Prompto was absolutely right. He was lucky. _Extremely_ lucky to have the father that he had. As painful as it would be, in the long run, it would be worth it. Just to know that his dad was okay, that the Crown City was okay.

Swallowing back emotion, Noctis reached a hand up and pulled Prompto in for a kiss. He leaned their foreheads together and smiled a smile that he shouldn't have been able to muster at that moment. "You're right," he agreed. "You're totally right. Thank you." He stole another kiss, and then reached onto the end table for his phone.

It wasn't too late, and even if it was, his dad was always awake way, way too late doing paperwork or whatever other things that a king had to do that kept him awake into the wee hours of the morning. A final bit of doubt crept up, inching its way from his heart to his brain and making him hesitate once he found his dad's name in his contacts. He swallowed hard, pushing it back and casting Prompto an uncertain glance. When Prompto responded with a secure smile and a nod, before gathering Noctis' mostly-empty glass, standing, and retreating to the kitchen, Noctis tapped the call button and brought the phone to his ear.

The ringing was the _longest_ sound Noctis had ever heard in his life. His eyes turned to Prompto in the kitchen, where he was gathering a cold blood pouch and putting it in the microwave, and he wanted to smile about it. He wanted to make a comment about how amazing Prompto was—how grateful he was—but before the words could come out, a familiar voice replaced the ringing coming through his phone.

"Noctis..." his dad's voice came through the line.

Just the sound of his dad's voice, calm but concerned at the same time, made Noctis' own voice tremble a bit as he replied. "H-hey dad. How's it going?" The attempt at casual fell short, and it was probably pointless anyway. There was no way that his dad would buy casual at the moment, especially since he hadn't so much as heard a single word from Noctis in over a month and now he was calling out of the blue.

It didn't matter much, anyway. His dad's voice was thick with emotion when he responded. "I'd wondered if you would call," he admitted.

Noctis glanced at his hands, choking a sob that couldn't _really_ strangle him, and breathing out an attempt at a calming breath. "I... wasn't gonna," he admitted, his eyes wandering to Prompto in the kitchen as he used scissors to puncture the blood pouch and pour it into Noctis' glass. "I thought it'd be too hard." The words were almost embarrassing.

"Of course it would," Regis murmured. In the background, Noctis heard the clicking of a door opening, and then he heard a soft breeze whipping around the phone. In his mind, he imagined his dad walking out to that little balcony outside of his office. In his mind's eye, he imagined all the times he'd seen his father and Clarus leaning over the railing and talking quietly. "But nothing worthwhile is ever easy, correct?"

Laughing a soft, humorless laugh, Noctis hummed an agreeing noise into the phone and watched as Prompto set the glass of blood on the table in front of him, then retreated back into the kitchen to make himself a bag of popcorn. "How are you, dad?" he asked.

Regis' voice was heavy as he answered the question. "Fine, my son. Tired, but fine. I was quite relieved to read that you were alright. Granted, a little less so to read it on the pages of a tabloid," he confessed, a half-amused chuckle coming through the line. "You've no idea the lengths I had to go to, in order to keep you out of the tabloids when you were here in the city. It only makes sense, I suppose, that you'd find your way into one beyond its walls."

"Believe me, dad. That story was tame compared to the one he wanted to run," Noctis mused, staring up at the ceiling and listening to the popcorn pop in the kitchen. From the corner of his eye, he spotted Prompto watching him.

Huffing another half-laugh, Noctis could almost see Regis nodding along. "They're vultures. They always have been." There was a very stiff air to his father's words. His father had always been somewhat stiff, sure. Not by choice; being a king always sort of seemed to take its toll on anyone who held the role, Noctis had to assume. This, though, was a different stiffness.

Noctis couldn't let whatever seemed to be holding his father back stay unsaid, so he asked, "is everything okay, dad?"

Regis was silent for long enough for Noctis to wonder exactly how serious this issue was, and what it was. "I have some concerns in regard to the empire," his father finally spoke again, his voice hushed enough that, were Noctis' senses not stronger, he may not have heard it. Before Noctis could ask, his father continued speaking. "Their influence is spreading throughout Lucis. More and more imperial vampires have made random attacks on Lucian citizens."

It was concerning that the thought hadn't occurred to Noctis before now, but he'd honestly spent so much of his time on the run and trying to protect Prompto, that it had never really occurred to him to wonder where the imperial vampires they'd encountered were getting their meals. How many Lucian citizens had died while they were on the run?

"Do you have a count?" Noctis asked.

Regis murmured a sullen, "at least one hundred reports of vampire-related deaths in Leide alone, and twenty werewolf-related ones. And that's not even to speak for Duscae or Cleigne or anywhere else." He breathed a soft sigh. "I'm afraid I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do. For so long, we had been at something of an impasse. No imperial vampires attacked us, and we lived in somewhat strained peace."

The term peace bothered Noctis, as he turned to look at Prompto. "I don't know if I'd call what happens in the empire peaceful," he disagreed.

After a beat, Regis hummed. "I suppose you're correct about that, but as king, it's my duty to ensure that my citizens stay safe. Which means that my position is a very awkward one. I had considered something of a spec-ops mission, sending in a small contingent to do recon. I can't send my armies to Gralea, however, when it's almost solely inhabited by vampires. They would be killed immediately," he murmured.

Two things popped into Noctis' mind then. The first was the fact that things had to be incredibly tense if his father was sharing all of this information with him willingly. For the most part, his dad had always sort of kept him at arms reach of all of the politics of ruling, trying to let him live his own life before the responsibilities of rule took him over. The second thought, however, was the fact that he and his friends were the _exact_ size of a spec-ops group. Noctis, Ignis, Gladio, Luna, Nyx, and Crowe could get into the imperial capital easily. Yes, Gralea was probably locked down. But they could find a way.

Was it possible that their small group could put an end to the empire and their terrible rule once and for all?

"Noctis?" His father's voice cut through his thoughts, snapping him to attention. "Are you there, my son?"

Humming an affirmative answer, Noctis cleared his throat. "Sorry, I was just thinking about the empire," he admitted, a half-truth. "Do you think that... that taking out the people in charge would improve the situation at all? I know that there are a lot of vampires in Gralea, and lots of them have... really shady morals." He knew that better now than he ever could have anywhere else. "But..."

Regis grunted a disapproving noise. "While it couldn't hurt, I would never want you to put yourself in danger either, Noctis." His tone very much cut the conversation off for debate.

While Noctis was fully aware that going to Gralea and attempting to take the empire on was a risky choice, vampires like Ardyn and Aldercapt and whoever else they had on their side _deserved_ to be dusted, one by one. Who knew what the situation behind the walls was? Who knew how many of the vampires behind imperial walls were only there because they'd been threatened somehow? Who knew how many _humans_ still needed to be saved from places like where Prompto had been? Wouldn't removing the imperial vampires from the picture be a huge step toward brokering peace between vampires and humankind? For however many reasons there were _not_ to go after the empire, there were two more reasons _to_ go after them.

Noctis' mind continued down that path, until his father asked him how he was doing. They talked for an hour; fifteen minutes of which consisted of Regis talking to Prompto for the first time. Noctis only heard very limited snippets of the conversation, he had to admit, because without his dad insisting that he not think of going to Gralea, his mind wandered right back to the possibility.

Leaving Prompto and Iris at home was a risk, too. One that Noctis wasn't sure he wanted to take. Gladio, Ignis, and Crowe likely wouldn't like it, either. But was it better to take two humans into a vampire fortress with them? Of course, he was getting ahead of himself. This was all assuming that his friends would be willing to go along with the idea. He knew that they were all on the same page, with their awareness that Niflheim was a terrible place. They'd taken Luna's home, they'd killed hundreds of people in Lucis and probably thousands—millions—more over the course of their reign. They deserved it, and everyone in their group knew it.

Before he could get too much further in his thoughts, Prompto had a hand on his shoulder, offering his phone back out to him. His father breathed a deep sigh, and said, "I see now why you hold so much vengeance against the empire, Noctis. I'd heard that your boyfriend was a blood slave, but I wasn't sure whether to believe it or not."

Noctis hummed an affirmative answer. "It's not just him though, dad. I mean, he's a big part of it. A _huge_ part of it. But there's Ignis and Luna and our new friend Crowe. And all of those people in Lucis and..." He paused to huff a humorless laugh. "And me," he admitted. 

There was silence on the other end of the line for a good long time, and when Regis finally spoke up, his tone was slightly different. "I can't stop you from doing what you want to do anymore, Noctis. I just hope that you ensure that everything is in order; that all of your decisions are the right ones, before you commit to anything. Some choices can't be unmade once they've been made."

"I know," Noctis answered.

Regis was silent again for another couple of seconds, before saying, "I also encourage you to talk to your friends first. Ignis in particular. He was always the voice of reason among you." His voice was fond.

Noctis smiled at that. "I miss you, dad," he admitted.

"I miss you too, my son. More than I can properly express."

Swallowing emotion, Noctis felt sticky heat forming behind his eyes. "Can... can I call you again?" he asked, embarrassed at the fact that he even had to ask the question. "Or is it too h-"

"Whenever you wish to, Noctis. Day or night. Vampire or not, Insomnia or Altissia, you are still my son and I still love you with every fiber of my being." There was a choked sob in his dad's voice, the emotion that he always trained away bubbling its way to the surface.

Noctis, too, felt sticky tears starting to roll down his cheeks. "You too, dad. And... you can call me too, you know?" he reminded his dad.

Behind the emotion, he could hear the smile when Regis answered, "good to know. I'll speak to you soon?"

"Yeah," Noctis replied. "Bye dad."

When Noctis hung up the phone, he turned his eyes to look over at Prompto, who was looking at him with worry lining his features. It only occurred to him in that moment, that Prompto had heard every bit of Noctis' line of questioning in regard to the empire and taking them on. The bowl of popcorn sat on the coffee table, completely untouched, and his eyes searched Noctis' for a good long time, before he finally leaned forward, throwing his arms around Noctis' neck and whispering, "please don't go to Gralea..."


	24. Chapter 24

It had taken a long time to convince Prompto that Noctis wasn't going to run off and go to Gralea while Prompto was asleep that night. In fact, if the way Prompto clung to him was any indication, he still didn't fully believe that Noctis wouldn't run off in the middle of the night. If nothing else, Noctis at _least_ didn't plan on going alone, and if none of the others would go _with_ him, he probably wouldn't go at all. His dad's words still rang out in his head, though; the concern about the increase of vampire attacks in Lucis. As he lay in bed with Prompto, his mind could only continue to wander.

Gralea wasn't far from Altissia. Tenebrae was even closer, and the empire had already taken that city. How long until their influence spread even further and they started trying to take Altissia? If they did, would Prompto be safe here anymore? They'd made this into a home. If the empire found their way here, where else did they have to run and hide; to keep Prompto out of the empire's clutches?

Were Noctis able, that thought would have made him feel physically ill. As it stood, it just disquieted him a lot, made him hold a little bit tighter to Prompto as Prompto held right back onto him. Sometimes, he wondered how Prompto held him so close at night. He knew that, to someone warm, someone with soft and warm skin like Prompto's, he had to be cold. Iris had pointed it out in passing when she'd hugged him once. She hadn't meant it to be offensive, he knew she hadn't, and he hadn't taken it that way either. Just an observation about the fact that his skin and his body weren't warm anymore. That the temperature difference was obvious to a human with blood still running through their veins.

To Prompto, on quiet nights when they lay with their bodies entwined, it never seemed to matter. It was just another reason why he was amazing, and another reason Noctis was so lucky to have him.

 _And_ , it was another reason why he had to do what he could to destroy the people who had hurt Prompto for so long. That was why he was endlessly grateful for the opportunity to go to the blood bank with Ignis that day. They'd left Prompto and Iris with Gladio and Luna, then left for the blood bank to stock up for all four of the group's vampires. As they walked through Altissia, after the gondola ride past Maagho, past the little fish market with the scallops that Prompto liked so much, both of them were silent. It was actually kind of strange. Usually, when he and Ignis were together like this, Ignis tried to ensure that Noctis was taking care of himself and doing everything that needed to be done. He usually asked a thousand questions, gave advice, found tears or rips that Noctis didn't even know existed in his clothes...

Today there was none of that. Actually, it looked like Ignis had something on his mind. He stared ahead of them absently as they walked, with a look on his face that showed that he was a thousand miles away, and Noctis found himself curious about what was going on in his head. But he didn't ask. He knew Ignis well enough to know that when his gears turned like this, he needed to fully process what he was thinking before he could share it. So, Noctis simply remained quiet as they walked through the less populated areas of Altissia.

Altissia's Vampire District was really only inhabited by vampires, as not all the vampires around here were as in control as the vampires in their little family. There were vampire gangs, which sounded like a really, really ridiculous concept, but was a reality for Altissia. For the most part, the gangs were forced to act at night, though, and stuck to this district, which was a relief. It made it much easier for Noctis to ensure that Prompto stayed off their radar. Who knew what they'd do with someone whose blood was made specifically to be irresistible? Yet, even with that happening, Noctis couldn't help but marvel at how much safer this was than Lucis. Now that he was talking to his dad again, he really did feel like Altissia could be home. No, it would never be the _same_ as the Crown City, but it was still good. It was still happy.

Maybe it could be better.

As they turned the corner to Mela Avenue, where the blood bank was, Ignis sighed to his left and drew his attention. A sigh for a vampire meant many things. It wasn't ever just a simple expulsion of air like it was for a human or a werewolf. It almost always meant that said vampire was lost in thought, or was anxious or stressed about something. Noctis eyed Ignis for a moment, but when his friend didn't make any effort to speak his mind, Noctis decided to take the initiative this time.

"Specs, if you sigh again, I'll be forced to call the angst police, and you're way too soft to ever end up in an angst prison," Noctis teased, his lips quirking into a grin, amused at his own joke. "So, it's probably in your best interest if you just, y'know, told me what was stressing you out."

For the first few seconds, Ignis' only response was an incredulous look. "If anyone is at risk to end up in any sort of angst prison, Noct, I assure you: it's you. Need I remind you which of us spent the first month and a half of his vampirism cursing fate and complaining about what horrible things destiny wrought on him, and which of us did what he could to make the best of it?" he asked. Each word he spoke had his self-congratulatory grin growing more and more. By the time he finished speaking, he looked like he wanted to give himself a full-blown pat on the back.

Honestly, though, Noctis would take return-serve sass over the angst-ridden sighs, though. "Exactly. Which would make me the angst police, wouldn't it?"

Ignis blinked a couple of times, surprise overtaking his features at the fact that Noctis had actually managed to outwit him. "I suppose you're right," he quirked his head to the side and blinked. "I must be out of sorts if you're managing to outwit me..."

Honestly, Noctis would have been more offended if he wasn't absolutely right. As it was, he just laughed a soft and amused note and looked at Ignis expectantly. "Exactly. So, you should probably tell me what's stressing you out before you walk into a manhole or light your hair on fire. We can't grow hair back, you know? That would be a serious shame," he commented.

With a laugh, Ignis nodded once. "You make a persuasive argument," he mused. "I was thinking of something that Clarus told me over the phone."

Noctis blinked in surprise. A part of him wondered if Clarus had told Ignis the same things that Noctis' dad had told him. Biting his lip, Noctis scratched the back of his neck and trying to act nonchalant. "What'd he tell you?" he asked.

Ignis shrugged a shoulder and glanced over at Noctis. "I'm assuming by your thinly veiled attempt at nonchalance, your father also spoke to you of the influx in vampire attacks in Lucis," he suggested, a tiny victorious smirk coming to his face at the fact that he'd managed to find his way back into the winner's seat in their snarky conversations.

At that, Noctis couldn't help but let out a chuckling breath. "Yeah," he agreed. "He did. How they're all over the place. Hundreds of them. I'm actually surprised that we weren't more aware of them while we were on the run, but we had way, way more on our minds then. Like trying to get from Lestallum to Galdin with our asses intact." Once again, he laughed softly.

Humming his agreement, Ignis' lips drew down in a frown. "That may be, but it's still troubling. As is the fact that we may very well have been the reason for the attacks." He paused, putting his hands into his jeans pockets and turning to glance at Noctis. "The empire was chasing us, because we had Prompto. Thus, their forces were spread through the country looking for us. Forces that needed sustenance."

Noctis frowned. "Well, what were we supposed to do?" He scoffed. "It's not like we could just give them Prompto." Not like Noctis would have, even if it was a possibility.

"No, of course not. I'm not suggesting that, either," Ignis agreed, sounding slightly affronted at the suggestion. "But we can't deny accountability, either."

That, Noctis agreed with. He glanced at the ground, thinking about his own internal struggle with the desire to suggest taking the fight to them. If they wanted to make a fight of it, Noctis didn't want to sit on his hands and wait for Ardyn and his vampire army to come to them; he didn't want to wait for them to take Altissia too, make it so that nowhere was safe for people to live. This time, it was Noctis who sighed.

To his left, Ignis laughed. "It looks like the angst police has some internal struggles with upholding their own laws, Noct," he joked, his mouth only twitching upward a little bit. He was struggling with something, too.

Noctis nodded his agreement. "Yeah," he answered, in lieu of continuing the snark off.

"No witty retort," Ignis pointed out. "Whatever has you distracted must be reasonably serious."

Noctis couldn't find it in him to reply right away. Instead, he just turned and looked at Ignis with a nod. "More than reasonably," he finally said, running his tongue over his fang and stopping in his tracks. There was no one around them, so this was a safe enough place to say what he wanted to say without anyone hearing. He waited for Ignis to realize that he'd stopped, turn around, then stop in front of Noctis again.

Through Ignis' sunglasses, he saw the seriousness in his friend's expression when he asked, "what is it, Noct?"

Calmly, steadily, leaving nothing to question—including the fact that he was absolutely _certain_ that this was what he wanted to do—he nodded and told Ignis, "when I talked to my dad, he explained that he wanted to send a spec ops contingent to invade Gralea and take a look around; scout the area."

"But he would effectively be sending them to their deaths," Ignis pointed out.

Noctis nodded his agreement. "That was what dad said," he offered. "But I was thinking. What if..." He paused; hesitated. He was _so certain_ that Ignis would tell him that this was insane, that it was stupid, that he was selfish and horrible for even thinking it, that he didn't want to speak up right away. The way Ignis was looking at him expectantly, urging him on without saying anything, non-verbally forced him to push it out. "We—minus Iris and Prompto—are the same size as a royal spec ops team. Not only could we go in and take a look around, investigate Gralea and send word back to my dad and his people, but we could... you know... put an end to things."

Ignis was quiet, considering for a good long moment.

Because of that, Noctis went into over-explanation mode. "I know it's insane, Specs. I know it's insane and dangerous and with all of the horrible things that they have going on behind the walls, it could very well be a suicide mission, but I look at Prompto, I think of Luna, and I think of all the things that they've done to them, to the people of Lucis, to us-" though Ignis' circumstance was more Noctis' own doing- "and I just want to _put and end_ to their bullshit. Get them out of Tenebrae and give it back to Luna. Get them out of Gralea and give it back to its people-"

Ignis spoke up with a calm and collected, "As do I," but Noctis was so in his own mind that, at first, he didn't hear it.

"-and see if maybe that could broker peace between Lucis and non-humans. Because there are _so many_ good non-humans like us out there that want a good place to call home and..." Noctis stopped abruptly when he realized that not only had Ignis not started chastising him yet, but he'd said... had he said that he _agreed_? That he wanted to, too? "What did you say?" asked Noctis.

With a humorless laugh, Ignis nodded his head. "I said that I want to go to Gralea as well. I'd had the same thoughts as you, Noctis; that the empire has ruled Niflheim for far too long and that Tenebrae's poor citizens are all going to be turned into blood slaves just like Gralea's before too long. They've already created blood slavery facilities out there," he explained.

Noctis was still stunned, admittedly. Usually, when he got an idea like this, Ignis was the first one to tell him that it was insane. That he shouldn't do it. Admittedly, Noctis had almost been counting on that to talk him out of it. Now that he knew that Ignis had his back, that Ignis agreed, he wanted to drop everything right now, turn and go to Gralea.

"Gladio does, too. We spoke of it after speaking with Clarus a few days ago. Clarus tried to talk him out of it when he made the suggestion over the phone, but I think Gladio actually succeeded in convincing Clarus that it was a good idea." Ignis sighed once more, then turned his head to the ground. "The only reservation I have is the fact that we'll have to bring Iris and Prompto with us."

Incredulity flashed across Noctis' features like someone had turned it on as a light. "No," he refused.

Ignis shook his head no, too. "So, you'd rather leave them here alone, then? When Ardyn and his crew are looking for Prompto and would willingly cut Iris down to get to him? Don't you think that, even in a den full of murderous vampires, the safest place for a pair of humans is with a group of non-humans who can help them keep themselves safe?" The question was spoken _as_ a question, but it was also very much not a question. Ignis knew the truth of it.

And so did Noctis, deep down. "I don't want to force Prompto to go back to Gralea again," he admitted.

"But if you think, for a split second, that Prompto will let you go to Gralea and not follow right behind you? Not go along to keep _you_ safe? Then you're sorely mistaken. I suspect that it's either we let them come along with us, or they try to cross Niflheim to get to Gralea alone." The smile on Ignis' face when he finished speaking was bittersweet. Proud of the pair of them, but also likely concerned for them.

The worst part of it, too, was that he was absolutely right. It was far, far better for Prompto and Iris to go with them, to join them if they went to Gralea together, than to stay home. Running his fang over his lower lip, he scratched the top of his head and glanced at the closed-down windows of a vampire apartment building. "This is all assuming that Nyx, Crowe, and Luna want to come along," he pointed out.

Ignis huffed a laugh. "Luna will want to come," he pointed out. "They took Tenebrae from her. And Nyx won't let her go without him. If Iris is going—which she will, because Gladio is going—Crowe will not want to stay behind. As strange as all of us are, we're a family. Where one of us goes, the rest of us follows for one reason or another. I think," he paused, "I think we should wait to bring it up to the others, because I imagine that the moment we bring it up to them... they'll want to leave right then and there."

Except Prompto. Noctis, as much as he imagined that Prompto wanted revenge against the empire for everything they'd done to him, couldn't imagine him wanting to drop their lives in Altissia for however long to run to Gralea and take them on. The terror on his face when he spoke of the empire's capital city or any aspect _of_ it suggested that the concept would probably dredge up his nightmares. Of course it would, honestly. For the first time since the idea entered his mind, Noctis found himself with second thoughts. But not enough for him to change his mind. Ignis was right about everyone else, though, and because of that, Noctis managed a nod of agreement.

"Yeah, okay," Noctis agreed. "But I also don't think that we should wait too long. Because the longer we wait, the more Lucian citizens die because of the empire's vampires. Or maybe not even die. Maybe they get brought back to those facilities."

Ignis nodded. "On that, we agree. When we return home from our trip to the blood bank, we should get everyone together at your apartment. We can send them meet up texts when we get back, while I prepare dinner for Prompto, Iris, Nyx, and Gladio. And we can discuss our plans from there." He placed a hand on Noctis' shoulder, and started guiding him toward the blood bank again.

Whether his dad knew that Ignis would agree with him or not, Noctis was glad that he'd taken that little piece of advice and allowed himself to bring things up to his oldest friend. Ignis was good at not letting Noctis make crazy plans and go off and do them on his own. So much of what had happened to him over the past couple of months could have probably been circumvented if he'd just gone over his plans with Ignis first. For the most part, though, things were okay. Aside from the obvious.

"I think, at first, we should stick to recon," Noctis explained as he started toward the blood bank again. "Just scout the place out while staying as quiet and out of the way as we can."

That was what filled the rest of the trip to the blood bank. Talk of plans and suggestions—the fact that layouts of places in Gralea were likely locked down and impossible to find, so their first course of action would likely have to be finding a safe place to scout from—filled all of the silences and moments when there weren't other people around them. A couple of times, the attendant at the blood bank had walked back into the room in the middle of their conversations, and they'd stopped short. Noctis had joked, as they walked back into the apartment building with two backpacks each, filled with blood, that she probably thought they were planning on robbing the place.

Ignis laughed at that. "More than likely," he agreed with a nod. "But that's okay."

Smirking as they walked up the last flight of stairs to get to their floor, Noctis said, "gotta admit, the idea of bank robber vampires is a pretty interesting idea for a movie," with an ever-growing smirk on his face.

"We could pitch it to someone with any discernible writing ability and make m-"

In the middle of his sentence, Ignis' stopped. His eyes went wide and he practically dropped the backpack on his right shoulder. Noctis was about to ask him what was wrong, when he took off in a full sprint toward Noctis' apartment. "Specs?" Noctis called after him, but he was already at the door.

As soon as Noctis moved to follow him, though, he realized exactly what was wrong. The smell of blood, strong and powerful and _familiar_ , entered his nostrils. It wasn't Prompto's—it was far too unpleasant, after all—and for a moment, Noctis allowed himself to be thankful for that. That thankfulness only lasted for a moment, though, when he got to the door of his apartment and saw exactly what was creating it. There, in the middle of the floor, Gladio lay in an ever-growing pool of his own blood. He groaned in pain, clutching to his abdomen, while Luna crouched over him and tried to tell him to calm down. To keep him from moving. Blood tears streamed steadily down Luna's cheeks, and she turned her head when she heard the two sets of footsteps getting to the door.

"Gladio, please don't move. Please," Luna's voice filled the apartment. "Look. Look, Ignis is here now and... and..."

Ignis was on his knees in an instant, next to Gladio, his hands shaking as he brought them down to Gladio's stomach to move his arm from his abdomen. "Gladio... Gladio what..." His friend's voice, confident and calm moments earlier, trembled now.

Despite the scene carrying out in front of him, Noctis cast his eyes around the apartment. He was worried about Gladio—he was, honestly—but he couldn't help but notice the absence of two very important people in the room. Where was Iris? Where was _Prompto_? What had happened? Noctis hurried past where his three friends were, to the bedroom, and cast his eyes into the room. Still no Iris. Still no Prompto. Into the bathroom next. Still no one.

Vaguely, the sounds of Luna, Gladio, and Ignis' conversation hit his ears. A silver bullet to Gladio's stomach. It hit some artery or another—Luna had said the words, but Noctis didn't hear them because he was still panicking, frantically waiting for a split second to ask where the others were, where _Prompto_ was—and because of the silver, his accelerated healing wasn't working. He'd been bleeding for a long time now, Luna said, and she'd been so busy trying to get it to stop, which was why she hadn't contacted them.

"Where's Prompto?" Noctis finally spoke up, his voice a desperate croak. "Where's Iris?"

Gladio coughed a painful cough, and for a second, Noctis felt guilty for interrupting his friend's explanation. Luna turned her eyes toward him, red-stained cheeks and red-filled eyes filled with a mix of sadness and worry. "Ardyn showed up..." she spoke sadly. "Aldercapt and a couple of others were with him. They're... they took them to Gralea."


	25. Chapter 25

"I can't stop the bleeding. Gladio... Gladio, please stay still. Please-"

There was a long silence, wherein Noctis had finally physically settled down enough to crouch next to his friends and try to help Gladio. Try was the operative term, because no matter what they did, the bleeding just wouldn't stop. For a time, his heart easily kept up with the rapidly pouring blood—or at least it seemed easy; it was beating faster, but it was keeping up—but now, as time passed, his skin was finally starting to grow pale. The silver still coursed its way through his veins and refused to allow his healing to take place. It tried. Noctis wasn't sure how—maybe it was the acute sense of blood-awareness that came with his vampirism—but he could sense the fact that the artery was trying desperately to mend itself.

It just wasn't succeeding. At this point, Ignis, Luna, Noctis, _and_ Gladio were all covered with blood. It was an ironic thing to say, since three out of four of them were vampires, and being covered in blood should have meant a meal. But Noctis could confidently say that feeding was the absolute furthest thing from his mind at the moment. Red stained Ignis' face as he and Gladio started at each other, silent communication that Noctis was almost able to understand. The pair of them thought, worried, that this would be the last time they'd get to look each other in the eye. And every second that passed by, Noctis found himself worrying about the truth to that, too.

Luna had washed her hands and called Nyx and Crowe, as well as the werewolf hospital, but the small hospital was so understaffed that she'd been on hold for a few minutes now. Silence filled the room, until Ignis finally spoke up.

"Hang the phone up, Luna," his voice cut through the silence, his eyes not leaving Gladio's as he brought his hand from where it rested on Gladio's stomach, trying to slow the bleeding, up to Gladio's face. He pushed some dark hair from Gladio's eyes, then murmured, "are you sure about this, Gladio...?"

Gladio's only response was a silent nod, a weak but confident one. He opened his mouth, his voice weak but certain. "Yeah. We talked about this, Iggy. I..." he paused, "I ever get myself into this situation, I want... I want you to try and turn me. Remember?" The question wasn't really meant as a question, because Gladio knew that Ignis remembered. Ignis remembered everything.

Before Ignis could answer, Gladio pushed off the ground, trying to force himself to sit up. Noctis was at his other side in an instant, an arm on his back, helping him sit up. There was a protest—both to the concept of Ignis turning him and to him sitting up—on the tip of Noctis' tongue. He knew Gladio, though. He knew his friend well enough to know that he wouldn't be swayed when he made his mind up about things like this. Gladio had always accused Noctis of being stubborn, but the truth of it was that _Gladio_ was about five times more stubborn than Noctis could ever dream of being.

Luna, however, held no such qualms about telling them how insane the plan was. "You realize, Gladio, that this plan is absolutely insane? Hybridism is only hypothetical at this point. That among werewolves, it's never been confirmed. If I get back on the phone to the werewolf hospital-"

"Then-" Gladio hissed in pain, glancing down at his stomach- "then it takes 'em an hour to answer the damn phone," another grunt and hiss of pain, "and then another half hour to navigate the streets and get to me." He had a point, too. Altissia's streets, no matter how beautiful and romantic, weren't really good for when the only hospital that could properly treat an injured werewolf was understaffed and all the way across town. "Iggy could... Iggy could move me, but then we'd be waiting just as long in the waiting room. Either way..."

Picking up the slack, in a voice thick with emotion, Ignis spoke up, "either way, by the time Gladio even... even has a chance to receive treatment..."

"He'll be dead," Noctis finished.

Gladio nodded. "At least this way, I have a chance."

At that, Luna's lips drew down into a frown and her eyes cast down to the floor. She crossed the floor and crouched with the group of them, placing a hand on Ignis' shoulder but looking at Gladio. "I'm sorry, Gladio. I'm sorry that I couldn't do more to help you..." she blinked a slow and sad blink.

"Not your fault, Luna," Gladio insisted in response. "That wrinkly old fucker sprayed you with garlic water. You couldn't see."

Though her expression was still crestfallen, Luna nodded once in acknowledgment. Now that Noctis was looking, he very clearly saw the redness of Luna's face. Her whole face, usually pale and clear-skinned, was red like she was still alive and had been standing in the sun too long. She sighed softly. "I wish there was more I could have done to keep Iris and Prompto from them," she confessed.

Gladio huffed a pained breath. "There is. Both of you." He looked from Luna to Noctis. "Suspect you won't object to this anyway. While Iggy does this, while we wait... I want you two to take Nyx and Crowe and go to Gralea. Save Iris and Prompto. Get... get them back. Luna heard where they took 'em. Heard 'em gloating while they walked away. She... she knows." He turned back to Luna.

"But what about-"

Cutting off Luna's protests, Gladio kept talking. "If it works..." he paused, anxious, "if it works, we'll come meet you." He sounded unsure, but somehow managed to sound sure at the same time. "If it doesn't... Iggy'll come and meet you." Now, he turned to look at Ignis, who stared at him with desperate eyes, wordlessly pleading for him not to talk like that.

The reality of the situation dawned on Noctis too, though, in that moment. Not only was it a very real possibility that Gladio wouldn't see the other side of this, but it was very much a _reality_ that Iris and Prompto were in imperial clutches. Iris was in Gralea. Prompto was right back to where he'd escaped from before he met Noctis. The list of things that the empire had taken from their small family grew ever larger, and each one was another tick mark on Noctis' determined vendetta to ensure that they paid for it until they were all dust. He watched as Ignis helped Gladio to his feet, then glanced toward the bedroom door.

"Go ahead," Noctis told him. "The sooner the better." At least that was what Noctis assumed.

Gladio turned to Noctis from the doorway. "You'll go, right? Get the others and go? You gotta get Iris out of there. And Prompto. You gotta-"

Cutting him off with a nod, Noctis glanced from him to Ignis and then back to him. "Yeah. Yeah, of course." It wasn't like it was a stretch; wasn't like Gladio was asking him to do anything that he wasn't going to do anyway. Blinking back some sticky red moisture, and trying to ignore the fact that everything in front of him was turning red with his unshed tears, Noctis swallowed a sob, keeping his voice level enough to say, "and we _will_ see you there, Big Guy." The words weren't certain, of course, because Luna was right. Hybridism was just theoretical at this point; there had never been a successful hybrid in recorded history. Still, he understood that Gladio wanted to try, instead of rolling over and dying.

"Yeah," Gladio agreed, the uncertainty obvious in his voice. "See you there."

It was painful, seeing Gladio like this. All of Noctis' life, Gladio had always been the strongest person Noctis knew; capable of fighting like he wasn't human, even _before_ he wasn't human. Entertaining the possibility that after everything they'd been through over the course of their life, as friends—and Ignis and Gladio as lovers—that this might be the last time he ever saw his friend? Well, it was a tough pill for Noctis to swallow. He'd already had to swallow it once. That was the way that this whole adventure started, after all, with them worrying that Gladio was dead. This, though... this was a very different situation. A very devastating one, at that.

If he was feeling like this, he could only imagine how Ignis was feeling. He'd already gone through the worry, through the fear of thinking that he'd lost the love of his life once. Now he was being forced to face it again, and now... now there was a very real chance that the fear would _actually_ become a reality this time.

With that thought in mind, Noctis locked eyes with Ignis as, at Gladio's command, he pushed the door closed with his foot. After his friends disappeared into his room, Noctis turned to look at Luna, whose eyes were still heavy with emotion. While Noctis, too, felt a swell of emotion—his own worry for Prompto and Iris finally leaping to the surface of his mind now that his friend wasn't in front of him anymore—he pushed it back. As hard and as far as he could. He approached her, placing a calming hand on her shoulder and watching as she snapped her head up to look at him. "Hey. He'll... he'll be alright," he reassured her, trying to keep his tone level. But the slight hitch was obvious.

Luna looked mildly upset by the platitude, but accepted it for what it was and nodded her head. "W-wash your hands," she told Noctis. "And we can go to the door and meet Nyx and Crowe there. It will probably be faster if we run and I carry Nyx than if we take the train," she confessed.

In the back of his mind, Noctis couldn't see Nyx being fond of the idea of Luna carrying him, but he nodded his agreement all the same as he headed to the sink to wash Gladio's blood from his hands. He could have licked it off, but something about that felt wrong. "Leave three of the backpacks for Ignis and Gladio, but we should bring the other one with us. Just in case. Bring Crowe's. The purple one. I don't mind sacrificing mine for Specs. Or for Gladio."

"Me either," Luna agreed.

The air was heavy and the silence was heavier as Noctis finished washing his hands and the pair of them headed to the door. With one last glance cast to his bedroom door, wherein he could hear soft mumbles of Ignis' strangled sobs that made him feel _horrible_ for leaving his friend behind, he closed the front door of the apartment behind him. "I... I'm worried about leaving Ignis alone," he told Luna, as he heard running footsteps coming up the stairs from a few floors below.

With a nod, Luna glanced back toward the apartment building. "I was thinking that myself. I... allow me to have a word with Nyx before we go. I suspect that I can convince him to stay here with these two. To keep Ignis company and... and so that he's safe from silver bullets, too." The last part was spoken barely above a whisper, as she raised her head, wiping red tears from her eyes and looking over Noctis' shoulder at the staircase.

Noctis nodded in response, before turning and glancing over his shoulder to see Crowe and Nyx at the top of the stairs. Nyx's eyes trained on Luna immediately, and he crossed the hallway in two large, sweeping steps, before scooping Luna into his arms and holding her tight. "Luna... I'm so sorry I wasn't with you. I could have-"

Luna silenced him with a shake of her head. "None of that, please," she insisted. "Walk to the end of the hall with me. I have to ask you a favor that you're not likely to like." At her words, Nyx's expression went serious, but he did as he was asked, following Luna to the opposite end of the hall, placed her hand on his cheek, and started speaking to him in hushed tones.

While they talked, Noctis turned his attention to Crowe, who was regarding the whole situation with wide and confused eyes. She looked at Noctis, wordlessly begging him for some kind of explanation, but then broke her silence by asking, "is what Luna said on the phone true? Did they get Iris?" Her voice was shaky, a shakiness that Noctis recognized from his own voice when he talked about Prompto.

He nodded. "Y-yeah," he muttered in response. "Got Iris and Prompto and got Gladio with a silver bullet and..."

Up until then, Noctis had been unaware that the dam holding back Crowe's emotions was as thin as it was. She clenched her fists at her sides, opting for anger instead of sadness, and then looked over at Luna and Nyx. "So... so why're we _sitting_ here instead of running through the damn streets and hurrying to get them?" she asked through gritted teeth, baring her fangs in her frustration.

Glancing over his shoulder, watching as Nyx protested for a moment against Luna's plea for him to stay behind, he allowed himself to turn back and look at Crowe. "Because Luna's trying to convince Nyx to stay here, too. Both to keep Ignis company and to keep him away from silver."

At that explanation, Crowe's expression changed. Anger changed to understanding, and she pushed past Noctis, walked up to where Nyx was protesting Luna, and said, loudly enough for Noctis to hear, "you're damn right you're staying here," to Nyx, standing at Luna's side.

"Crowe," Nyx protested, annoyance in his tone.

Crowe shook her head no. "Don't 'Crowe' me, Ulric," she commanded. "I don't know if you missed the memo, but Muscles got shot with a damn silver bullet. From a gun. Which means that they'll probably kill you, too. And before you go on your whole inevitable tirade about how we're just as weak to wooden stakes as you are to silver... yeah sure," she nodded, cutting the idea off before he even had to say it. "But it's about ten times harder to stab a vampire with a wooden stake than it is to shoot a wolf with a silver bullet. So, if... _when_ , Muscles wakes up, you can come join us with him and Poindexter."

It didn't seem like Nyx was going to respond at first, so Noctis stepped up, shrugging a shoulder at Nyx. "I get it," he told the werewolf. "You hate it, and for damn good reason. It sucks. But... it's not just because of the silver. It's because of Ignis. We have to go _soon_ , and we don't want to leave him alone. Because if Gladio... if he..." A brief pause, wherein Noctis choked on emotion, "if the worst happens, we're gonna need you to keep Ignis together." He glanced over his shoulder at the apartment door again, then back to Nyx.

Nyx was looking at him, less than impressed, but eventually, he huffed an annoyed breath through his nose. "Fine," he said. "But not 'cause I'm afraid of some stupid damn silver bullets, because I'm not. For Ignis."

"Thank you," Luna whispered, pulling him to her for a gentle and soft kiss. "Thank you, Nyx."

After kissing Luna slowly, softly, Nyx turned to Crowe and pulled her in for a hug. "You two better stay alive, though. Either 'til we get there or until you get those two out of that place. Whichever..." He paused and turned to Noctis. "You three. Sorry," he added as a sheepish afterthought.

Noctis huffed a humorless laugh, barely concealing his own emotion behind an attempt at humor. "It's not us you should be worrying about. We'll dust whatever imperials get in our way."

Chuckling a humorless note of his own, Nyx shrugged a shoulder. "'Scuse me if I'm not exactly scared for them," he commented sarcastically. His eyes trained on Noctis then, and in a moment of silent communication, he commanded Noctis to keep them safe; not to let anything happen to the girls.

While Noctis wasn't exactly worried about them—he'd seen Luna fight, and Iris seemed to have a high opinion of Crowe's fighting skills, too—he understood the concern at the same time. It wasn't like they were just going after small groups of vampires here and there. They were going straight to the _main imperial stronghold_ with the intent of breaking into one of the facilities that they kept their blood slaves in. That thought, as he watched and half-listened to Nyx say his farewells to Crowe and Luna individually, brought his mind back to Prompto.

He'd finally escaped. He'd finally found his way to freedom, found a group of people who welcomed him into their family like—no, not like; _because_ —he belonged there, and then once he found happiness, once he felt safe, they took him back. They took him back and threatened to cut a piece out of that family, out of that safe and comfortable portrait and home that he'd found. What were they doing to him there? Was Ardyn right back to feeding on him the exact same way he had before? Was his lock down _more_ extreme, since he'd already escaped once?

The one solace—if he could even call it that—was the fact that he had to believe that Ardyn wouldn't kill Prompto. He'd scoured all of Lucis for him. There was no way that he'd so willingly let go of someone that he'd sent almost a whole army after, was there?

That, however, didn't apply to Iris. For whatever reason, they'd taken her, too. They hadn't just killed her outright. Noctis was, of course, endlessly grateful for that fact. It did, however, make the very real possibility jump into his mind that Ardyn planned to use Iris in the same way that Prompto had mentioned him planning to use Luna. The empire was known for breeding humans. Prompto had mentioned their intent to make him breed with Luna, to create a superior bloodline. While he didn't know if Iris fell into that category, he _did_ know that her scent was pleasant and sweet. Not as good as Prompto's did, but still good.

The very idea on its own made him want to _personally_ put a stake through each imperial vampire's heart. It wasn't as though he didn't want to before this. He did. He _definitely_ did. But now, his anchor wasn't with him. Now, the one person who made him feel like he was still a human being was being forced to live his nightmares once again. It made Noctis anxious to leave, and had him turning to look at Luna and Crowe as they still said an emotional 'see you later' to Nyx.

As hard as it was, he didn't interrupt. He didn't interrupt as Nyx told Crowe to be careful. He didn't interrupt as Nyx told Luna to try and avoid the heroics if she could. He acknowledged with a nod when Nyx looked at him, once again silently telling him to keep the girls safe. Watching silently as Nyx retreated into the apartment, with a final glance over his shoulder as he shut the door, Noctis turned his attention to Luna and Crowe finally.

Of course, he was sympathetic to how they were feeling. But right now, they needed to get going. Every second that they wasted was a possible second that Prompto and Iris didn't make it through.

"Let's go, guys. Luna can fill us in on everything we need to know on the way there."


	26. Chapter 26

"Zegnatus Keep. That's where they keep the 'best' blood slaves in Gralea, and that's where they're keeping Prompto and Iris," Luna told them, not a sliver of doubt in her voice as they ran along the train tracks. "Even if Aldercapt hadn't run his mouth about it, I'd know. That's... that's where I was, after all."

It felt like they'd been running for at least three days now. Not needing to sleep had made days feel twice as long, for obvious reasons, and the one-and-a-half days that they'd been on the road felt like much, much more. Noctis found himself wondering if it would have been faster to take the train. It wouldn't have; not even remotely. Running along the tracks, they'd passed the return train on their way past, so if they'd opted to wait for the train, they'd probably still be back in Altissia. Running like this, endlessly without tiring and slightly faster than a train, would have been something to marvel at if the situation behind it wasn't so dire. As it was, he was singularly—or, at least mostly singularly—focused ahead of him. He was listening to Luna, at least insomuch as he could listen to Luna while the wind whipped around his head.

Crowe, after jumping over a fallen log that was close to the train tracks, asked, "d'you know how to get there? Like, I know you had to leave the city on foot and everything, but you were probably rushed, right? So, it'd be totally reasonable if you-"

"No, I remember," Luna insisted. "It's in the heart of the city, so it's not likely to be easy to get there. We can do it, though. When I was running through the city, when the woman in black was helping me, she kept pointing me to high spots that we can climb or jump to with ease. Granted, we can't exactly keep our scents hidden, so we'll need to be fast once we get up there."

As much as Noctis wished that he could pay proper attention to the conversation, as much as he wanted to contribute to the planning, he found himself unable to focus on anything but worrying. Worrying about Gladio back at home. Gladio, who had survived _so much_ —all the fights he'd ever had, all the hunts he'd ever been on, being bitten by a werewolf—and who could potentially already be dead. Ignis, whose soulmate, whose person, was teetering on the brink and possibly dying; who had just found that soulmate again, after thinking that he'd been dead for weeks. Iris, who had just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Iris, who never had, never _would_ , harm a soul, potentially being victimized by the empire.

Mostly, selfishly, he worried about Prompto, though. However much the rest of them had fought, however much the rest of them had survived, Prompto was reliving a nightmare. A nightmare that was his reality for almost all of his natural life. He managed to escape, managed to find his own new normal, and then all of a sudden, it was taken away from him and he was right back where he started. Right back in his own personal hell. _Ardyn won't kill him. Ardyn won't kill him because he's Ardyn's food source..._ It made Noctis angry that, as much as the thought was disgusting to him, it was Prompto's saving grace right now. It had to be. They couldn't go all this way, couldn't have come this far just to lose him; just to fail.

Noctis had promised that he would protect Prompto. He'd already broken it enough. He couldn't _completely_ fail.

Against Noctis' will, some sticky redness sprang to his eyes and he found himself picking up speed. He was a little bit ahead of Luna and Crowe now, and the sharp sound of Crowe's voice grabbed his attention. "Hey! Edgelord! Slow down, alright? You get too far ahead of us and you're gonna be going into Gralea alone!" the brunette called out, trying to pick up speed to close the growing distance between Noctis and the girls. 

It wasn't any advantage of being faster than the girls or any extra strength that had him surging ahead of them. It was raw determination, plain and simple. Not that he suspected that Crowe and Luna were any less determined to get to Gralea, but Noctis _had_ to. He _had_ to get there before it was too late. All the same, he slowed down to fall back into step with Luna and Crowe, and he muttered a half-felt apology.

They only stopped moving completely once. At first, as Noctis continued moving and he noticed the voices fading in volume behind him, he was annoyed. They were in a rush. There was no time for pit stops. He turned around, planning to tell the girls exactly that, before he realized exactly where they were. The vegetation and castles of Tenebrae were not even close to as inviting and friendly as they were when Noctis was a child. An imperial blockade prevented them from just walking up to get a closer look; airships and guards stood at the doors, both to keep people in and to keep people out. Over the walls and in the distance, the beautiful palaces that Noctis remembered as a child had charred chunks missing. Much of the foliage was dying from neglect. Beyond that, it just lacked the _friendly_ feeling it always had under Luna's family's rule.

It looked like a ghastly, mocking caricature of the city Noctis had visited as a child. And if he was feeling this terrible, he could only imagine how Luna was feeling.

"Luna," Crowe spoke up before he got the chance. "Luna, are you-"

Red-blurred blue eyes turned to look at Crowe, and over the brunette's shoulder, Noctis saw the sadness in his friend's expression. "No," she answered simply. "No, I'm not. Look at what they've done to my home." She turned to look back at the Tenebrae skyline; what the empire had made of it, and her fists balled angrily at her sides. "I didn't see it before. On the train from Gralea, I spent most of my time locked in a room in the sleeping car. But I..."

Of course, she wasn't okay. How could she be? While she hadn't been here in almost a decade, this was still her home. Noctis couldn't imagine what it would be like, seeing Insomnia like this. It made him grateful beyond reason that his dad and Clarus seemed to have things relatively under control on his absence. Noctis strode around Crowe and placed a comforting hand on his childhood friend's shoulder.

"It'll be okay, Luna," he muttered.

Platitudes, and Luna knew it, if the expression on her face when she turned to look at him was any indication. It was a cross between a glare and a devastated frown, and it made Noctis feel guilty. Before she could reply with any voiced mixture of that, though, Crowe stepped in front of them and nodded her vehement agreement. "You're damn right it'll be okay," she insisted. "Because after we get Freckles and Moogle back, we're gonna dust all of 'em, Queenie. And then when Tenebrae learns that their Princess is the one who saved 'em? Vampire or not, they'll be begging you to take the throne back."

Noctis managed a little smirk at how, in her way, Crowe had managed to find words that were about a thousand times more comforting than anything Noctis could have come up with on his own. They weren't sugar-coated platitudes. They weren't 'it's going to be okay,' or 'you have us now' or 'our non-lives are okay.' They were realities. Because Crowe was absolutely right. When they finished with what they had to do, they would find somewhere that Iris and Prompto would be safe, take them there, and then go and make every single imperial asshole pay.

Though Luna's eyes were still on this ghostly shell of Tenebrae, though sadness still drew her lips down into a frown, a spark of determination shone in her eyes when she turned to look back at Crowe. "You're right," she agreed. "You're absolutely right, Crowe. Thank you." She managed a weak smile, which only wilted seconds later when she turned to look back at the city.

"And then maybe we can help get Prince Edgelord back to his throne, too. Not sure how, but we can do it." Crowe reached over and lightly punched Noctis in the shoulder.

Noctis huffed a humorless laugh, and then turned his gaze back to Luna. "But first, we've gotta get to Gralea and save Prompto and Iris," he pointed out. Maybe he was a little bit of a broken record. Maybe he was a _little_ bit single-minded, and a little insensitive. But he couldn't help it.

It seemed like Crowe agreed, because she nodded her head and pointed over her shoulder. "So, what do you say? Finish what we started and then ruin what _they_ started?" she asked, nudging Luna's shoulder and smiling an encouraging smile.

Nodding resolutely, Luna shook her ponytail over her shoulder and turned her head away from Tenebrae. "Yes. Yes, let's go."

And with that, they were on the road again. Tenebrae was the halfway point. They took off, headed further west, running as fast as they possibly could. They used the train tracks as a guide, and by sunset of the second day, they found themselves reaching the icy wasteland of the Ghovoras Rift. The temperature change would have chilled Noctis to the bone, were he able to notice such things, but as it stood, the only thing he could really feel—could really notice—was the fact that the falling snow and thick layer of ice encasing the area made it look like something from a fairy tale. Prompto would have loved it; he would have loved taking pictures of it.

They stopped there, when Crowe's eyes started tinting a little bit red, to disperse some of the blood from the backpack that Noctis carried on his shoulder. As Noctis rushed through his pouch, however, a sound in the distance hit his ear. Jumping to attention while Luna and Crowe looked over the high bridge, down into the massive icy canyon below, Noctis finished the pouch of blood and inched a little bit closer to the sound.

Hushed, whispering voices entered his ears; some familiar, some not. The first one to hit his ear and _really_ evoke a reaction was gut-boilingly infuriating. Aldercapt's voice, old and shaky though it was, was enough to make Noctis continue walking toward the sound without a word of warning to the girls. The very second the sound hit his ears, the scent hit his nostrils. Several scents mixed, actually. The piney smell that Noctis associated with Aldercapt, three unfamiliar smells; spice, cinder, and an odd floral scent, mixed in with the pine and made it difficult to differentiate.

Noctis, however, still moved toward it. In the back of his mind, he was aware of the danger. Maybe he should have turned around and gone to collect Luna and Crowe to join him, so that he wasn't facing off against however many vampires there were by himself. But he didn't. Vengeance clouded his mind, not allowing it to catch up and tell him exactly how bad an idea this was. The want for vengeance against Aldercapt—all he and his people had done, not just to Prompto but to _Luna_ , to Nyx, to Gladio and Ignis and Iris and to all of the other people they'd hurt—burned like a fire in his chest as he continued moving toward the voices.

Other voices joined the first as he moved closer. The first voice he heard played at a memory in the back corner of his mind, and made his eyes shoot open in desperate shock. It hearkened back to the night he was turned. Not Ardyn; very much not Ardyn. The voice was young, but matching its youth was its pompousness; its holier-than-thou tone, even as the three older voices berated it and cast it aside. Noctis, now close enough to see the four silhouettes as they approached, took cover behind a wide support beam, listening closely. He didn't look, didn't let them see how close he was. The four scents grew ever-closer, step by step, then stopped all of a sudden.

"They're around here somewhere," Aldercapt told the others plainly, "the scents I picked up. One of them is Caelum. Another of them, I don't recognize. The third, however?" a pause, and Noctis could almost _hear_ the slick smile in Aldercapt's voice when he continued. "Well, it appears that we will be able to test our young ally's loyalty. Because the other is also quite familiar. Ravus. Are you prepared to face your sister?"

Ravus. That explained the familiarity. "That is of no concern to you, Iedolas," Ravus responded, his tone holding far more spite than a tone that youthful should be allowed to. But Ravus wasn't a child. Not technically.

An unfamiliar voice tisked a chiding note. "Actually, it is. If you're to be a member of our forces, Ravus, we need to be fully confident that you're a member of _our_ forces, and not planning to put a stake through our hearts the second we turn around. So, we will ask you again. Are you ready to face your sister?"

"To put behind the last piece of your connection to your old life?" a second voice joined the first.

This voice was _not_ as unfamiliar as the scent was, and the sound made Noctis blink. It was a voice he hadn't heard in months. A voice that simultaneously reminded him of home, and made his heart sink. His dad's Kingsglaive captain, Titus Drautos. In that moment, it all made sense. How, for so many years, more and more vampires managed to make it through the Insomnian exile. How, no matter what happened, the vampire underground was never completely quelled. It was all because his dad's most trusted Glaive, the man he'd put in charge of his _whole_ security force, was a vampire, and was working for the empire.

More fury bubbled up in Noctis' chest, and it was growing increasingly difficult to keep himself hidden.

"Are you?" Aldercapt repeated.

Ravus didn't answer them. Noctis thought back to the story that Luna and Nyx told him, of the night when Luna was turned. Ravus had only attacked her because he'd lost control, and then he'd run. He'd given Luna his light ring, and run. It was obviously a struggle. Despite how Ravus felt about many things, it was blatantly clear that he still loved his sister. These imperial vampires were trying to get him to kill her.

Common sense should have told Noctis to turn around, to go and collect Luna and Crowe. Noctis' protective instinct wouldn't allow him to, however. Luna had been through enough. Seeing her brother, even the _potential_ that her brother would try to kill her _again_ , had him stepping out from cover, summoning his sword, and displaying it to the imperial vampires. "You'll have to go through me to get to her," Noctis insisted, his way of announcing himself.

It wasn't smart. In fact, it was just about the stupidest idea he could have possibly had. Four on one was never good odds. Noctis didn't care, though. He wasn't going to let them get to the girls.

A chiding laugh was Aldercapt's only response to Noctis' declaration. "It appears time has not made you any smarter, Caelum," he replied. "Ulldor. Drautos. If you please."

"You know, Noctis," Drautos spoke, stepping forward and allowing a little smirk to cross his face, "your father was always somewhat worried about your impulsiveness. It seems that your time as one of us has done nothing to abet that."

Noctis' eyes were narrow slits in his face, and he shook his head vehemently. "I'm _not_ one of you. My dad trusted you, Drautos," he seethed, trying not to let the betrayed feeling seep into his voice. He didn't quite succeed. Honestly, he didn't even come _close_ to succeeding. Surprise mixed with sadness and frustration made his voice shake.

Drautos shrugged a shoulder. "I know. And because of that, for years, I had to watch as a king I loathed sentenced many, many innocent vampires and werewolves to be cast away from their homes and families. You'll have to pardon me if I don't exactly feel much sympathy for the man who villainizes us to the rest of the world, Noctis," he chided.

Scoffing, Noctis took a small step backward, trying to get away from them as they advanced further. "So, I'm assuming you're the reason that so many vampires managed to get around the exile, then," he commented.

"Bravo," Drautos mocked. "You were always more book smart than street smart."

The other vampire, a somewhat portly vampire with a youthful hairstyle that didn't match the wrinkles on his face—presumably Ulldor—huffed an annoyed noise as he turned to look at Drautos. "Is this really the time for such pleasantries, Titus? Let's dust the boy, so we can find Lunafreya and attend to her-"

Much to Noctis' surprise, before the man could even finish his sentence, a ripe thud of impact came from behind Ulldor. Before Noctis could even register what happened, Ulldor was on his knees on the ground, and Ravus was climbing onto his back in an attempt to wrestle him to the ground. Were the situation any less dire, anything other than it was, it would have looked like a child wrestling his uncle. It was very much not that. And as Drautos advanced on Ravus to assist his comrade, pulling a stake from his belt, Noctis found himself in the very awkward position of having to assist one of the vampires who had been involved in his turning.

That was exactly what he did. Noctis threw his sword at Drautos, a split second before he found his way to Ravus' side and plunged the stake into his heart. It impacted with Drautos' rib cage, making him recoil a few steps backward. Noctis warped to him, pushing him backward and tugging his sword out of the man's body in a swift motion.

Drautos, however, didn't stay down for long. He picked himself back up and turned on Noctis now. At around the same time, Ulldor managed to shake Ravus from his back, and threw the small vampire toward the guard rail and the frozen canyon. The throw wasn't quite strong enough to send Ravus _into_ the canyon, but it was close. Now, the two imperial vampires advanced on Noctis from either side. Aldercapt still stood in the background, his arms crossed as he watched everything unfold.

In Noctis' mind, Drautos was the biggest threat. As it turned out, he was half-correct. Drautos pulled an aerosol bottle—another of those small garlic water bottles that all of the imperial vampires seemed to carry—and sprayed before Noctis could react. While he recoiled, losing his concentration, and thus losing his sword, Ulldor attacked from behind. He grabbed hold of Noctis' shoulder, pushing him to the side and onto the ground, before advancing on him with a stake in hand. Noctis scrambled to get to his feet, his face still burning and his vision still blurred from the garlic water, which provided Ulldor with the perfect chance to grab the stake from Drautos' hand and pummel Noctis to the ground.

Ulldor raised the stake over his head, and Noctis wiggled his body just slightly, sending his aim off and making the piece of wood impact with his shoulder instead of his heart. He made a desperate kick, wiggling his body out from under the larger vampire, but it ended up being all for naught. Drautos approached Noctis with swift vampire speed, and placed a foot on his side, flipping him on his back again. One foot pinned him in place, while Drautos reached down and yanked the stake from Noctis' flesh.

"It's a shame, Prince Noctis. If you'd simply chosen the right side of the battle, all of this could have been avoided. You could have had a nice, cushy, comfortable eternal life. But now, I have to put an end to all of it." Drautos eyed the stake in his hand. "Don't worry. I'll make sure your father's end is just as quick when we-"

If Noctis hadn't heard the sound, he would've questioned why Drautos stopped. But he heard it as clear as a bell. A howl, loud and piercing, bounced from the icy walls of the cavern. It drew the attention of everyone in the area, and before Noctis could even react, a large, hulking, black wolf leaped from behind Aldercapt, hurling his massive body into the traitorous vampire and knocking him toward the guard rail alongside Ravus—or, alongside where Ravus _had_ been, anyway. He wasn't there anymore.

Noctis pulled himself to his feet and his eyes darted around, surprise lining his features when he spotted a pair of familiar silhouettes appearing from the shadows. Nyx and Ignis. So... did that mean that this wolf was...

"Gladio?!"

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to check on the companion fic, [Lunar Calendar](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9847745)! Sometime soon, she'll be putting up the 'Gladio turning' scene!
> 
> Also, for the sake of answering the questions you probably have, we're assuming that it takes a few hours for a hybrid to turn.  
> Here's [nicoleiacross](http://archiveofourown.org/users/nicoleiacross/pseuds/nicoleiacross)' reasoning for that:  
>  _It's not really killing him, so much as healing him? Like, yeah, it had the effect of killing him for a little while--but it's more like a stasis so his body can figure out what the fuck it's doing. Mostly, it's just pushing the silver poisoning out of his veins and trying to mend the wound from being shot. Like, I imagine if he HADN'T been poisoned and hadn't been shot, he'd have turned a little bit quicker. The rest of the changes happen over the course of him feeding--his body adjusting to 'hey, I can still eat!!! I still need to sustain on blood to some degree, but I can (and need) to eat real food to maintain the Not Dead parts of me."_
> 
>  _It's mostly just his body trying to find the healthy middle for Lycan and Vampire--which genetical make-up overrides what parts (i.e. the Vampire's aversion to sunlight doesn't apply to hybrids because they retain blood, so the Lycan genetic overrides that; but, likewise, the vampire genetic, now that it has blood to run through and not just undead veins, overrides the need to wolf out on full moons and gives hybrids full control of their abilities.)_  
>  Just in case any of you had questions about that! ♥


	27. Chapter 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to check out [Lunar Calendar](http://archiveofourown.org/works/9847745/chapters/22099289) by [nicoleiacross](http://archiveofourown.org/users/nicoleiacross/pseuds/nicoleiacross), you guys! There's some pretty pertinent information on Gladio's circumstance in there!

When Noctis called Gladio's name, the wolf responded with a bark that, like the howl, echoed through the icy canyon. Noctis simply stared, dumbstruck, at the wolf. Was it even possible for Gladio to have turned so fast? It wasn't even a full moon. Wolves couldn't turn outside of the full moon, right? So... how on Eos was this possible?

Ulldor took the moment of confusion as an opportunity to advance on Noctis then. He didn't make it two steps when, from the opposite direction, the large black wolf leaped back toward him. Down to the ground the vampire went, and the wolf's large jaws snapped once in his face. Noctis, where he stood staring dumbly at the scene as it unfolded in front of him, couldn't help but notice that what dripped from the wolf's fangs wasn't saliva, either. It looked the purple, opalescent liquid that coursed through Noctis' veins, that dripped from Noctis' own fangs whenever he hissed.

If this was Gladio, did that mean that they'd been successful? How? How had it been successful so quickly? Didn't it take people three days to turn? Or was it different with hybrids? All of the questions spun around in Noctis' head and dizzied him. But when Luna and Crowe appeared on the other side of Drautos, with Ravus in tow, in that short amount of time, the battle went from a four on one to a seven-on-three. A seven on _two_. At some time, in the middle of the melee, Aldercapt had, once again, retreated. Ravus' defection, too, swung the fight even more in their favor. How long that would last once everything was said and done remained to be seen, but for the moment, it was good.

These odds were _much_ better. Added to that, the swell of relief he felt at seeing who he could only assume to be his old friend on his feet—paws?—again brought much of the fight back to Noctis.

It was shocked right back out again, however, when Gladio's jaws clamped down on Ulldor's throat. No, they more than clamped down on his throat. They severed clear _through_ his throat. Clear through his throat, and completely severed his head at the neck. Noctis physically recoiled at that, as well as at the collection of purple-blue venom that dripped from Gladio's jaws when he pulled back. Even in wolf form, he heaved a little bit at the image. It took a second for Ulldor to turn to dust. His body tried to heal the damage to the severed flesh and bone, before realizing that there was no chance for that, because Ulldor's head rolled a couple of feet away from it, toward Noctis.

Then, seconds later, both body and head turned to dust. Noctis still blinked, a little bit dazed by everything coming at him rapid-fire, but a few seconds later, his mind was forced to catch up with the rest of him when Nyx's voice echoed through the icy canyon.

"Drautos?!" Nyx announced.

All eyes in the area turned on the imperial traitor as he tried to escape in the same direction Aldercapt had gone. Gladio turned, daring the man with a low and rumbling growl to take another step. Venom still dripped from the wolf's fang's as his lips curled with his growling; not from Ulldor's corpse, but from his own mouth. Ignis rushed over to stand between Drautos and his attempted escape route, and Luna and Ravus blocked him on the other side. Cornered and surrounded by seven enemies, Drautos' only response, at first, was to let out a soft and huffing laugh of acknowledgment.

"Two of my Glaives, missing for near a decade, still alive?" he questioned, turning his eyes from Crowe to Nyx.

Nyx's mouth curled into a scowl. "You think you're gonna be able to get to us using all that 'Glaive loyalty' bullshit after we see you trying to kill Noct, you're stupider than I thought," he huffed in annoyance. Though he still stood in a protective stance, he was slightly behind Ignis. He was the easiest of the group to kill. That, for a man who had lived his entire human life as a protector, had to be hard. Beyond that annoyance, though, was a flash of something else. Betrayal. Noctis had felt it too, sure, but he could only imagine that for people who had worked under Drautos, it was harder. That it was worse.

For Crowe's part, she looked angrier than betrayed. Her eyes were narrowed, and she bared her fangs in a threat. When she hissed angrily and Drautos turned toward her, she stomped forward on one foot and clenched her fists. "So, what, were you gonna betray the king, then? Were all of these... all of _your_ people, gonna bide your time and _attack_ Insomnia like you did with Tenebrae?"

Noctis' eyes went to Luna then, while she stepped forward and placed a calming hand on Crowe's shoulder. It didn't work, though. Crowe shook her hand off and stepped forward again, shaking her head angrily. "No. Thanks for trying, Queenie, but this _asshat_ is exactly why vampires, werewolves, and humans can't live peacefully!" She was seething, her voice echoing almost as loudly as Gladio's howl in the icy cave.

"I'd put money on the fact that _he's_ the reason Niff vamps and less peaceful wolves keep getting through Insomnia's walls. Why people in the city keep getting killed. Why _everyone_ in Insomnia is so scared shitless of everyone that's not human." Nyx's voice was more confident than Crowe's, but it was still sad and betrayed. 

Drautos laughed a hollow note at that. "You can pin that on me, on Niflheim, if you wish. But the policy of 'cast out a few to save the many' has never worked anywhere for anyone. All King Regis accomplished with his 'turn out all non-humans' policy was to create a whole ocean of bad blood between Insomnia and vampirekind. Werewolfkind too," he added as he turned to look at Nyx.

"So, what was he supposed to do," Noctis interjected, "let all kinds of vampires run around and kill people? Yeah, there are vamps like my people out there." He gestured toward his friends. "Lots of 'em. But there are also lots of vamps like your imperial allies out there, who'd sooner _lock people up and use them as slaves_ or _kill any random stranger they meet on the street_. What do you expect him to do? Let all of them run rampant in the streets?"

Nodding his agreement, Ignis added, "indeed, it's far less than ideal for those who just want to get by. We'd all prefer to be home, if we had the choice. But purging the few to save the many has kept Insomnia mostly safe."

Noctis found himself thinking back on the conversation he'd had with Prompto on the first night they'd met. Prompto wanted to go to Insomnia, to find safety and refuge in the Crown City, and Noctis had talked him out of it. A bitter and sad feeling overwhelmed Noctis then. Would they even be in this position if he'd just encouraged that? If he hadn't tried to talk Prompto out of going to the Crown City? Ignis was right. The curfew and the ban were better than nothing; better than the alternative provided by the rest of the world. Because he'd been sad, because his emotions had been tainted by being freshly turned, was it _his_ fault that Prompto was back in Gralea again?

That didn't mean that he would trade the time they had for anything—except for maybe a _guarantee_ that Prompto would be safe—but it made the closest thing he could probably feel to an ill feeling rise up in his chest. To be even partially to blame for the circumstance Prompto was in, that was too much. If there was any chance that Prompto wasn't okay... he'd never forgive himself.

Shaking that thought off, he watched Drautos, who stood in the middle of the group of non-humans, silently questioning what they intended to do. Seconds later, his non-verbal question took voice. "So, where does this leave us, then?"

"If you think you're leaving this place, you're _definitely_ stupider than I thought," Nyx commented, raising his crossbow.

Noctis' eyes found Crowe, who was nodding her agreement. None of their friends were surprised. The only one who _was_ surprised, probably, was Drautos. He didn't say as much, though. Instead, with a little smirk on his face, he pointed out that, "you know, Aldercapt probably ran to tell the chancellor. Even with me dusted here? That doesn't mean that Insomnia is safe. Between Aldercapt and Izunia-" the sound of the chancellor's name on Drautos' lips made Noctis cringe- "your home is still in danger. Killing me doesn't stop anything."

In Noctis' periphery, he noticed Crowe and Nyx sharing a moment of silent communication, and he had to wonder what it was about. But before he had a second longer to wonder, Crowe's voice echoed out in the silence. "Maybe it doesn't," she seethed, watching with a quirk of a knowing smirk as Drautos turned around.

Like Drautos had stepped right into a trap, Nyx's mouth turned to a smirk, too. Before Crowe continued talking, Noctis heard the loud and familiar twang of the release of a crossbow string. The bolt went right into Drautos' back, plunging directly into his heart and making him fade into dust. "But it's a damn good start," Nyx finished Crowe's statement. He breathed a shaky, emotion filled sigh as he lowered the crossbow to his side again.

Everyone stood in stunned silence for a few more seconds. The first one to move was Nyx, hurrying across the distance between himself and Luna to scoop his girlfriend in his arms. The movement—as well as the unpleasant odor Nyx's werewolf scent hitting his nose—snapped Noctis out of his stupor. He turned his attention to Gladio then, huffing a relieved sigh as he looked his friend over. "So, it worked?" he asked either Gladio, or Ignis, who had hurried to his side.

"It did," Ignis answered.

That didn't answer any questions, really. "How is he a wolf right now? It's not even the full moon, and-"

In lieu of an answer, Noctis was nearly knocked over by shock when Gladio's wolf body lurched. Like a baby chick bursting from an egg made from wolf gore, Gladio's human form shed its wolf skin. Bones made sickening cracks that echoed out through the icy canyon, and bits of flesh dropped off of him. Was the flesh still not healthy and normal living flesh, Noctis would have likened it to a zombie movie, or some kind of horror film situation where humans shed skin. As it was, it looked like Gladio's human form was bursting from some kind of wolf-shaped cocoon, and Noctis could do nothing but blink in response, when on the other side of the transformation emerged a slightly bloodied, but none the worse for wear, Gladio.

The blood he was covered in didn't smell _nearly_ as revolting as Gladio's werewolf blood. Not as revolting, but _three times_ as dangerous. More dangerous, even, than another vampire's blood. It didn't stink like wet dog or rotten meat; it had more of a woodsy smell to it. Cedar, maybe. Cedar and danger. The thought would have been enough to make him laugh, was he not still so frazzled by what he'd just seen.

"You can shift whenever you want," Noctis mused.

Gladio nodded. "Looks like it."

However, any awe that may have been inspired by that revelation was completely overridden by the fact that, now that Gladio had shifted back, he was standing in the middle of a frozen canyon, completely naked, except for the light coating of blood covering his body. Noctis turned his head sharply, wincing and looking the other direction. "Dude! Can you, like... put some clothes on or something?"

"What, and get them all bloody?" Gladio asked, showing on no uncertain terms that he was very much still Gladio. "Relax, Noct. It's not like it's the first time you've ever seen a dude naked."

Scoffing in annoyance, Noctis turned his back. "C'mon, man. No one wants to see that!" he over-dramatized, glad for the slight increase in calm afforded by the fact that there were no more enemies in their immediate vicinity.

Ignis huffed a half-humored note of laughter. "Speak for yourself, Noct," he mused.

Noctis huffed. "There's a kid present!" he announced, pointing at Ravus.

"I am not a child," Ravus growled in response.

Gladio laughed a soft note at that. "See? Not a child. Besides, there's no point in putting my clothes back on when I'm just gonna have to shift again whenever we get back on the road again." He pointed toward Gralea. "I'm pretty sure Iggy brought extra clothes, but I'd rather save 'em for just in case. So, for now, you can deal with me being naked."

From the corner of Noctis' eye, he spotted Luna. Her face was covered, but she was doing one of those movie-style peeks through two of her fingers. To her left, Nyx cast her a half-glare, and Noctis couldn't help but smirk a little bit. Luna's immediate response was to lean over and press a kiss to Nyx's cheek, murmuring to him about how he was still her favorite. To Luna's right, Crowe made a gagging sound at the romance, before turning to Gladio and making _another_ gagging sound. She didn't look away from Gladio, though, just flashed him a not-quite-smile, and shrugged a shoulder.

"Looks like we got a regular superstar on our hands," she pointed out. "Congrats on being the first hybrid _I've_ ever heard of, Muscles."

Instead of a proper response, Gladio raised his chin in a not-quite-nod, and smirked at her. "Gotta say, I never thought I'd see the day when I played horsey to another werewolf," he commented, turning his smirk in Nyx's direction.

Nyx responded with a middle finger, and then turned to look at Ravus, likely content to get the topic away from the fact that he was an alleged weak link. "So, I'm assuming that since you're still here, and you haven't tried to kill us yet," he started, "that you finally see how shitty the people you were surrounding yourself with were?"

The annoyed huff that Ravus gave in response to that comment made him sound _exactly_ the age he looked, and he glanced up at Luna. "Your pet-"

"Boyfriend," Luna corrected, annoyed.

Ravus sighed. "Your _boyfriend_ has quite the mouth on him, Lunafreya," he seethed in annoyance. Turning his attention to Nyx, he continued. "But to answer your question, it wasn't a rapid realization. It's been in the making for quite some time now, actually. Since before we turned him." He pointed at Noctis. "If you think, however, that this means that I will join your merry band of idiots as you continue your trek to Gralea, you are sorely mistaken."

Laughing a humorless note, Nyx shook his head no. "That is absolutely not what I thought, kid," he muttered.

"I. am. not. a. child," Ravus growled in response.

Noctis couldn't help but smirk a little bit. The one time before now, when he'd met Ravus, he'd been the entire _reason_ that Noctis had walked into the trap that ended with his being turned. The only other time he'd heard _anything_ about Ravus, it had been about when he'd turned Luna. A smirk was a completely reasonable response. "You could've fooled me."

When Luna turned to look at Noctis, her expression was chastising. "That's quite enough, you two," she told both Noctis and Nyx. After a beat and a half, though, she turned to glance back at her brother. "If you don't intend to accompany us to Gralea, what are your plans, Ravus?" she asked. There was the slightest bit of disappointment in her tone, and Noctis felt a little bit guilty then. This had to be difficult for her.

For another beat, Ravus looked contemplative. "Well, Drautos mentioned that Aldercapt has gone to inform the chancellor, which means that there is likely no one on the throne in Tenebrae at the moment," he pointed out. "The six of you will undoubtedly prove quite a satisfactory challenge for the Gralean imperial forces, and if you hurry, there's a good chance that you will be able to catch both Aldercapt and the Chancellor there. I, on the other hand, will go back to Tenebrae and see if there's any way I can get beyond the blockade."

After a pause, Ravus turned to Luna. "If you wish, Lunafreya, you and your boyfriend are welcome to-"

Luna cut Ravus off with a hum of denial, and shook her head no. "Perhaps afterward. I have a promise to attend to with my friends." Another couple of seconds, she crouched down to meet Ravus' eye. "You should come with us."

"I-"

With a shake of her head, Luna cut Ravus' protest off with a gentle smile. "I know that you don't think much of my friends, Ravus. But they're good people. They're strong people. Crowe and Noctis have promised to help me take Tenebrae back after we get our friends out of Gralea. I'm certain this extends to Gladio, Ignis, and Nyx as well-"

"Don't even need to ask," Nyx was the first to respond.

Ignis, too, was quick to reply. "I would be honored." And to his left, Gladio just nodded.

A warm smile spread across Luna's face then, as she took her brother's hands in hers. It looked peculiarly like a mother holding her son's hands, and it took _two internal reminders_ that this was Luna and her _older brother_ Ravus, for Noctis to convince himself otherwise. "Ravus. I know that you hardly know my friends. My small family, here. But I assure you, dear brother, that there is a place for you among us, if you wish it. I know that you've long been forced to suffer under imperial gaze. That they never trusted you, and treated you like an outcast. But you wouldn't be one, among us."

Admittedly, a piece of Noctis was hesitant to trust Ravus. A large piece, actually. His mind went back to the look in Ravus' eyes, the _glee_ with which he'd laughed when Ardyn was sinking his teeth into Noctis' neck. Now, though, this _very different_ version of Ravus standing in front of him, who looked like a vulnerable child in front of his sister, had Noctis wondering how much of that was actually Ravus' true intention. How much of it was hunger, or him trying to fit in; to make a good impression on Ardyn?

It was the part of him that wondered, that had him addressing Ravus from where he stood. "I mean, I can't say it'll be easy all the time," he pointed out. "We kinda seem to attract bad stuff."

Nyx laughed at that. "Like damned magnets," he muttered.

Pointing her thumb at Noctis, Crowe grinned and tilted her head alongside her thumb. "Especially this one. He kinda brings it on himself with his questionable decisions, though," she added.

"But," Gladio, still naked as a jaybird, added, "it's way better than going to Tenebrae on your own."

Ravus cast his eyes across the group of them, starting at Luna, then moving to the right to look at Ignis. Around the half-circle that they stood in he looked, past Noctis until his eyes fell upon Crowe, and then back to Luna again. He was considering. Noctis could tell. "You would consider my opinions when we make decisions?" he asked, not committing to an answer.

With a nod, Ignis stepped forward, crouching next to Luna and smiling at Ravus. "Every one of us is an equal in this group, Ravus. We are a family, and we are offering you a chance to be a part of it."

Heterochromial brown and blue eyes glanced down at the ground for a moment, then back up at Luna. In lieu of an affirmative or negative answer, he instead opted to cross his arms at his chest. "I suppose we should get on the road to Gralea, then," he told them. It wasn't an agreement, but it also was. At the very least, between the lines, Noctis could read the agreement to help them get to Gralea, so that they would help him get Tenebrae back.

Luna, however, smiled with her whole face. She reached her arms forward, tugging her brother to her in a hug and whispering, "I've missed you so, Ravus," into his shoulder.

At first, it looked like Ravus was taken by surprise far too much to respond. After a couple of seconds, though, he hugged Luna back. A child's arms wrapped around Luna's neck, and he buried his head in her shoulder. Noctis could swear, for a moment, that he saw a slight hint of red tears forming in Ravus' eyes, and he murmured a barely audible, "I've missed you, too," into Luna's ear.

Every single time that Noctis thought that their family couldn't have possibly gotten weirder, it did. A werewolf, five vampires, one of whom looked like a child, a _hybrid_ , and two humans. Two humans that they _very much_ needed to get on the road to save. A glance at Gladio and Crowe showed that their minds were in the exact same place.

It was Gladio who finally spoke up. "I really, really hate to do this to you two, but we need to get to Gralea," he pointed out.

Ravus pulled back from the hug, flashing Luna the ghost of a smile, before turning to the group and saying, "I know exactly where they're being kept. If you're willing to follow me, I can get us there completely unscathed."

Instantly, Noctis was glad that Ravus had agreed to come along. Noctis flashed him a grateful—albeit still the _slightest_ bit tentative—smile and took a glance around the rest of the group, noting that everyone was getting ready to get on the road again. In a desperate attempt to ignore the cracking sound of Gladio's bones as he shifted back into wolf form, Noctis nodded a secure nod to Ravus instead.

"Then let's get going."


	28. Chapter 28

Zegnatus Keep's gates were locked down tighter than Tenebrae's. It was equal parts surprising and not, but as Noctis looked up at the large structure standing between them and where they needed to be, he couldn't help a helpless feeling as it bubbled up from his chest. Ravus, too, seemed furious. He cursed and seethed, looking every bit the part of the child having a temper tantrum as he stood next to a small console to the right of the hulking metal door. Something about how they'd already revoked his access to the system that opened the door.

Noctis, Nyx, Ignis, and Gladio—who had since shifted back to his vampire form, cleaned off a bit, and gotten dressed—tried desperately to open the door, but even with Gladio's new strength, it wouldn't budge at all. It was made of strong metal, strong enough to stand against a furious shoulder check from Gladio. It rattled a little bit more when Gladio hit it, sure. Still, even with his strength, even with his _extra_ strength, all he could do was rattle it. That didn't stop Noctis from trying, though. With all his might, he rammed his body into the door. It didn't really rattle much at all, and he turned to look at the others, his desperation growing.

They were so close. So close now, and they couldn't get through the gate. Prompto and Iris were on the other side, somewhere in what Ravus had described as 'labyrinthine corridors,' they couldn't get through the _damned_ gate, and Noctis was beginning to lose hope. In his frustration, he threw his body into the gate twice more, desperate shouting grunts escaping from his throat. The cool and calm demeanor he'd developed, when dealing with the various crises they'd had since discovering what had happened to Iris and Prompto finally started to crack. It was a miracle that it had kept for this long, honestly. Maybe it was because, up until this point, he'd had enough to distract him. Now, though... now, all he could think of was the fact that they were _right here_ , and they couldn't get inside.

"Noct, please remain calm," Ignis told him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "We'll find a way in. We didn't come all this way to-"

Remain calm. Remain calm? Noctis shook his head vehemently, shaking Ignis' hand off and casting his friend a glare. "I can't be calm, Specs. I can't," he shook his head. "We're here. We're _here_ , he's on the other side of this door somewhere, and we can't... we can't get in. Ravus can't. We can't. We... what if I never see him again?"

Red blurred his vision, and he walked toward the door again, examining it as closely as he could for _any_ kind of structural weakness. He'd promised. He'd _promised_ to make sure that Prompto never fell into their hands again. It wasn't like he hadn't tried. Gods had he tried. Prompto and Iris hadn't been alone, but apparently, that wasn't enough. And as he looked at the door, it was becoming painfully obvious that there were no structural weaknesses. No way to get inside.

No way to save Prompto.

As soon as that thought entered his mind, he reared back and hit the metal door with a kick that, were he able to feel it, would have sent a jolt of pain shooting through his foot, to his knee, to his whole leg. He probably would have broken his toes. Honestly, he might have _welcomed_ the pain at this point, as a way to get him thinking about anything but the fact that Prompto was trapped in there, in his own personal hell. All that resulted, in the pain's stead, was a loud, echoing thud, from where his boot hit the door.

Ravus, it seemed, was more annoyed than Ignis. He pushed on Noctis' hip with all of his strength. "Do you really think it _wise_ to alert a den full of vampires who likely want us all _dead_ of the fact that we're standing out here and trying to get in?" he seethed, glaring at where Noctis had landed on the ground, a few feet away.

"If it opens the damn doors," Noctis answered in a grumble, pushing himself back to his feet, "I'll kick it as hard as I have to."

After a dramatically disgruntled noise, Ravus rolled his eyes and shook his head no. "It's a wonder to me, that you've survived this long," he commented.

Ignis stepped forward, standing between Noctis and Ravus and heaving an exasperated sigh at the pair of them. "Enough. The obvious solution to this problem is to run the length of the wall and see if we can get in somewhere else. There must be some sort of weakness somewhere, correct?" he glanced to the left, down the length of the wall, and then to the right.

The answer, however, didn't come from Noctis or Ravus or _anyone_ with a familiar voice. No, instead, the responding voice was female. Not Crowe's, not Luna's, though it was equally gentle and kind. The words lilted through the silence of the group pondering Ignis' suggestion, and cut any further consideration of the idea off.

"There is not," the mystery female—female _vampire_ —answered.

Noctis turned his head toward the noise sharply, blinking in surprise when a woman in a black kimono dress stepped forward. Olive-green eyes glanced at each person in the group. Before he could ask her who she was, she settled on Lunafreya and a sad smile crossed her face. "Ah, Lunafreya. I'm sorry that this fate has befallen you, too."

Luna blinked in amazement. "You! You're the one who..."

The woman nodded. "I am." She turned her attention to the door then, but didn't stop talking. "It seems a great misfortune has brought you back here. You will not, however, find your way inside the walls by way of a breach. Security is quite high, you see. Any breaches are immediately closed, and the walls are made of the same metal as the doors are." She stepped past them, toward the door console that Ravus had just been working.

"Yes, well," Ravus interrupted, "that shan't be getting us in, either. They've changed the code and-"

With a soft and gentle chuckle, the woman nodded her head yes. "Of course, they have changed the code," she mused. "However, that means little when I have the new code on hand, does it not?" And with that, she typed a few numbers into the console, and with a loud and metallic click that echoed throughout the empty space around them, the door unlocked.

Everyone, it seemed, was as dumbstruck as Noctis felt. Crowe, however, was the first one to regain her mind enough to speak. "How'd you do that?" she asked. "We'd been sitting here, banging our heads against that thing for like... what, an hour now?"

Luna looked ponderous, curious, and when the woman in black turned to look at her, smiling in gentle encouragement, she decided to ask her question, too. "Who are you? You never told me, and you never told Prompto. You just helped us, and..." she trailed off, blinking a couple of times at the woman, eyes questioning.

"I am Gentiana," she explained, simply, like that was enough of an answer.

It wasn't, and Noctis decided to make that known. "But how'd you do that?" he repeated Crowe's question. "Open the door, I mean? It looked like you had the new code memorized, and-"

Gentiana nodded. "I did."

"That mean that you're with the empire, then?" Gladio asked, immediately going protective, and stepping to the front of the group.

With an expression that neither confirmed nor denied the accusation, Gentiana turned to Gladio. "Not in the basest of terms," she explained. "I am no friend of theirs, if that is what you ask. I'm sure Lunafreya can confirm that for me." She glanced at Luna with a warm smile. "I have, what is the term? I have... played the field. In the empire eyes of the empire, I am an ally. I am not, however."

Ignis, it seemed, pieced it together before everyone else. He stepped up beside Gladio, and with a hand on Gladio's chest, urged him to calm down. "I suspect," he started, "that you've been freeing blood slaves like Lunafreya and Prompto for quite some time, am I correct?" The confidence in Ignis' expression showed that he really wasn't questioning whether or not he was correct; he just knew. To be honest, though, he always just knew.

At first, Gentiana's only answer was a calm nod. "I have been. I have also been waiting for a group like you to come along. A group with determination and fight enough to take the empire on." This time, her voice wasn't gentle. It was half-pleading, almost. Like her stake in the situation was just as great as theirs.

"What is your benefit to the empire's downfall?" Ravus asked her, quirking his head to the side.

Gentiana glanced at Ravus, a frown, regret, lining her features. "My benefit is much the same as everyone else's. An Eos rid of the empire is a much safer place, do you not agree?" After a pause, and a soft sigh, she continued. "However, I do have a somewhat personal attachment to this, as the vampire who started the whole vampiric imperial overhaul is a sire of mine." She didn't turn away, didn't shy from admitting it.

A sire of hers. Though Noctis wasn't all that familiar with the terminology, he'd read about siring in one of the books that Ignis had suggested to him. "So, you turned him?"

"He always told me that he was the oldest vampire in existence," Ravus pointed out, his tone dubious. "Though, truthfully, he never explained how he turned, either."

Gentiana shook her head no. "I suspect that he only told people that because he knows how uncommon it is for me to show my face to others. He never expected the truth to come out. His truth is not the actual truth, however. Ardyn is not the original vampire. I am," she explained. 

As much as Noctis appreciated Gentiana's help, though, and all of this new information, he really, _really_ wanted to get in there and get Prompto and Iris out. While a tiny part of him was curious as to how Gentiana became a vampire, how the original vampire had become what she was, it was easily stamped out by his need to get through the now-unlocked door before the imperials inside realized and locked it again.

With that in mind, he asked, "can we talk about this on the go? We really, really need to get in there."

And with the group's universal agreement, Gladio and Noctis force-pulled the heavy metal door open. As they walked, Gentiana told them a very abridged version of the story of how she turned. A curse from a group of angry 'colleagues,' the origin of whom she never actually explained, was the long and the short of it. The curse had turned her into the first vampire, and another of her 'colleagues' into the first werewolf. Noctis had a few questions, of course, but none of them were important at the moment, so he just listened as she spoke and guided them through the facility.

Without knowledge of what to do, she explained that she'd killed several people in her first frenzy. Her second, she explained, only came about because she refused to acknowledge her vampirism. That was when she realized, after biting Ardyn, that she was able to turn people. At the time, she told them, she didn't know what kind of man he was. She didn't know what kind of affect her mistake would have on Eos as a whole.

"Had I known," she whispered as they turned a corner to an empty corridor, "what I had unleashed upon the world, I'd have not have thought what I did that night to be a mercy. After I discovered the truth, though, I devoted myself to helping in my small way, while I waited for a group strong enough to help take the empire on, as I could not very well do it on my own. That small way, as it turned out, was helping to free the empire's various captives. Like Lunafreya and Prompto."

Everyone was quiet. Noctis thought about the story—it really raised more questions than it answered, honestly—and glanced at her. "So, you've had to watch as this vampire you turned, built this horrible place and turned people into slaves," he murmured.

Gentiana nodded. "But take no pity on me. Take pity on those that Ardyn has victimized. Not just the blood slaves, but really, every vampire since he was created." She stopped at the end of a hallway, refusing to move any further, like there was some kind of invisible wall standing in her way.

"Gentiana?" Luna asked.

Blinking a couple of times, Gentiana looked at the group of them. "Something is wrong. Do you smell that?" she asked, casting her eyes down the hallway.

At first, when she spoke up, Noctis thought that maybe she was trying to cover her own tracks; trying to get them to stop asking questions about her own story. A few seconds passed, though, and the smell _did_ enter his nostrils. Blood. Some fresh, some poured out onto the cold and metallic floors of this keep. The blood itself, however, was less alarming than the scent attached to that blood. Cinnamon and sunshine crept around the temporary calm afforded by Gentiana's story, and made panic rise. Catching Prompto's scent should have brought him relief, should have calmed him, because it meant that they were close. It didn't.

Not even close.

In the background of that smell was Iris' scent, the subtle coconut smell that Noctis associated with his dear friend now, but now that he was aware of it, Prompto's scent was somehow stronger than it had been when Besithia had shorted his wristband out. Noctis' worry overrode the hunger that the smell bubbled to the surface, and he threw caution completely to the wind, following the scent and darting toward it.

After the first corner he turned, he picked up Ardyn's strong, tea leaf scent, and Aldercapt's leathery one. They weren't close. In fact, they were getting further and further away by the second. They were retreating. Running away. As much as Noctis wanted to chase them, though, it was less important than getting to Prompto. He followed the cinnamon and sunshine to a closed cell door.

Whatever he expected to see, nothing could prepare him for what he saw on the other side.

Apparently, the thought that Ardyn wouldn't harm Prompto because Prompto was his favorite blood source had been way, way off base. Iris leaned over Prompto, sobbing uncontrollably and trying to stop a gaping wound in his shoulder as it poured blood. Alongside _that_ blood, however, two angry fang gashes on the right side of Prompto's neck bled furiously, too.

"Wh-what..." Noctis murmured.

Iris turned sharply, and Prompto's eyes—panicked, but falling closed from the tiredness that came with impending death—turned to look at him, too. "Noct!" Iris' voice was shaky when she addressed him, and she stood, Prompto's blood dripping from her fingers and coating her shirt. "Noct, you... Noct, please! Help Prompto!"

How? How could he help Prompto when... the sheer amount of blood on the floor was way, way too much for a human to recover from. It wasn't like he was Gladio. It wasn't like the wounds were desperately trying to heal over a poison that was preventing them from doing so. No, both wounds were just open, pouring blood so fast that Prompto _couldn't_ have much time left. That realization had desperate tears springing to Noctis' eyes again. No. No, not like this. Prompto had survived too much to come back here and die. It just... it wasn't fair.

Gladio blinked hard at the sight before them when he appeared behind Noctis, seeing his sister's clothes coated in blood and blood that wasn't hers dripping from her hands. He yanked at the door, trying to open it, but when it didn't open, he grabbed at the bars instead, yanking at them until they bent in his hands. The bends weren't big enough for any of them—even Ravus—to fit through.

To Gladio's right, Crowe yanked at the bars, too, bending them under her grasp. "Moog! Moog, are you okay? Why are... shit, Freckles!" she gasped when she realized that it wasn't Iris' blood dripping from her skin.

"Get. us. in. there." The tone in Gladio's voice was commanding as he turned to look at Gentiana.

Noctis' voice was shaky. "P-please..." he pleaded with her.

Gentiana was already at the console, taking her key card from her pocket and sliding it through the reader. A loud beep echoed through the hallway, and that put Nyx on alert. He looked up and down the hall, blinking. "If there's any chance that any vamps are here, that alerted them. No question," he pointed out.

But Noctis didn't care. When the doors opened, he rushed in along with Gladio and Crowe. He passed Iris—as glad as he was to see her, he had other concerns at the moment—and fell to his knees next to Prompto. "P-Prompto... Prompto please hold on. Please don't..." A hand came up to rest on Prompto's cheek, and he felt a sinking despair creeping through him, alongside a realization. Prompto was warm, yes. But he wasn't _as_ warm as he usually was. Noctis grabbed his hands, holding them gently, and met his eyes.

"Please don't die..." Noctis repeated his request.

Prompto pulled in a shaky breath, bright blue eyes shining with tears as he met Noctis'. "N-Noct, I..."

Noctis shook his head, putting gentle pressure on Prompto's neck wound with one hand, and on his shoulder with the other, trying to slow the bleeding. "Save your energy, please. I... you can't..." die. He couldn't die. Not like this. Not at _all_ , but _especially_ not like this. In his mind, in the back corners, there was a question as to how this had happened. Right now, though, the hows felt way, way less important than getting Prompto the _hell_ out of here and to a hospital. "We'll get you out of here, okay? We'll... we'll get you to a hospital. We'll get you-"

"Noctis," Luna murmured, interrupting him as she crossed the room, then placing a hand on his shoulder. "He's lost so much blood that... I don't think he'll survive a trip to the hospital. Especially since the nearest friendly hospital is back in Altissia."

No. No, there was no way that Prompto was dying right now. Luna was wrong. She _had_ to be. Prompto hadn't escaped, hadn't been freed and found himself a life, just to have it taken away like this. There was no way that _Noctis_ had finally found the one person in the world that he could see himself loving for the rest of time, only for him to die just a couple of months after they met. It wasn't fair.

"Turn me."

Prompto's words were so quiet that if Noctis hadn't been staring at him, watching the light fade from his eyes and feeling him grow colder by the second, listening to every breath he took, he might not have heard them. He _did_ , though. The first reaction he had was to shake his head adamantly. "N-no, Sunshine. No. You're not-"

Silencing all objections, Prompto raised the arm that wasn't injured—though not able to silence a pained whimper when he moved, and causing more blood to ooze from each of his wounds—and pressing his index finger to Noctis' lips. "Please," he begged. "I... I don't want to die. Noct, p-please turn me. I-"

Another protest formed on Noctis' lips, but Gladio cut it off by clasping a hand to Noctis' shoulder. When Noctis turned and looked at Gladio, he shook his head and nodded his chin at Prompto. "He wants you to, Noct. Pretty sure you want to, deep down, too," he pointed out.

"It's either this or you live the rest of eternity without him," Ignis pointed out, "and as someone who has been in your shoes very, very recently... I think you realize that this will be vastly preferable to the alternative. He'll be okay. He has... he has all of us to help him once he wakes up. Right?"

Ignis was right, of course. If it came down to the choice of teaching Prompto to be a vampire, or living the rest of time without him? The choice was simple. Noctis blinked hard, turning from where Ignis and Gladio stood watching, to look back at Prompto. Blood covered his body, and his eyes shone with tears. "Are you sure this is what you want?" he asked, his voice trembling.

"Yeah," Prompto answered without hesitation. "I don't... don't let me die. Please..."

With a somber nod, Noctis leaned down, touching his forehead to Prompto's and breathing a shaky breath. "Never," he promised. "I won't let you die." With that in mind, Noctis brought his wrist to his mouth.

Prompto stopped him, with a hand over his mouth. "Can you..." His voice was weak, but it looked like he had one more request. "Can you bite me? I don't want that to be my scar."

Unbidden, Noctis' eyes went to the long, three-inch gash that spanned from beneath Prompto's ear to the crook of his shoulder. Blinking slowly, trying to stave off more tears, he nodded a single, solemn nod. He didn't answer with words. He didn't need to, probably. Leaning in, before he went for the bite, Noctis captured Prompto's lips in a desperate kiss. It was colder than usual, and that made Noctis sadder than anything else, but it was still Prompto. "I love you..." he whispered.

"Love you, too," Prompto answered weakly.

There was nothing satisfying about the drink he took from the opposite side of Prompto's neck. It wasn't like last time, where he felt happiness through every iota of his being at the feeling and the taste of Prompto's blood working its way through his body. The pull weakened Prompto even further, and when Noctis looked at him again after the deed was done, his consciousness had faded. It was almost like Noctis' drink had taken the consciousness along with the blood. He was still alive. Noctis could still hear the faint heartbeat in his chest. If he wasn't fast, though... Prompto wouldn't be alive anymore.

Red tears blurred his vision as he brought his wrist to his mouth. He could barely see his own hands as he reached down and opened Prompto's mouth with two fingers on his chin. After making sure that his venom dripped down Prompto's throat, Noctis gasped a shuddering cry, leaned over his boyfriend's body—officially a corpse, as his heart had stopped beating seconds after the venom entered his system—and sobbed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a n g s t
> 
> Sorry for the delay, folks! I was eyeball deep in Mass Effect: Andromeda. XD


	29. Chapter 29

Between the fact that opening the door had alerted several nearby vampires—all of whom Gladio and Ignis had dispatched in no time—and the fact that Ardyn and Aldercapt had run once again, the group had little choice but to retreat again. They could have stayed to continue the fight, but they needed to get to Altissia, to get everything ready for when Prompto woke up. Gladio carried Nyx and Iris on his wolf form's back, and after splitting off from Gentiana—who had resolved to stay behind and free more of the blood slaves, then meet up with them later to help them take Tenebrae—they rushed home.

It had taken them two days to get to Gralea, and with a lack of distractions between them and their goal, it took them less time to get back. Just over a day and a half, to be exact. Running home, with his boyfriend's limp and lifeless body in his arms, was a horrible feeling. As he ran, he almost dreaded the moment that Prompto woke up. If he woke up with Iris there, there was a high chance that he'd do something he'd regret later. Because of that, they decided that it was best to have Iris at Ignis and Gladio's apartment, and to have Prompto's transition happen at their own apartment. Plus, waking up around the familiar would be all the better for him.

Ignis and Luna had taken care of going to the supplier to get Prompto a light ring and enough blood to completely stock Noctis' fridge—as well as a little bit extra in a mini-fridge in their bedroom—both for Noctis, and for when Prompto woke up. After they returned with those items and left again, though, Noctis was alone with Prompto.

While Noctis waited, he cleaned the blood from Prompto's skin with a wet cloth, then changed his clothes, disposing of the old ones. With him clean and dressed, Noctis slid the light ring on Prompto's finger as he slept, just in case he woke up during the day. Sunshine, he decided, should never be without the sun. Even if he wasn't warm like the sun anymore.

Unlike with Ignis, Noctis watched as Prompto's body changed. The changes were subtle. The cinnamon and sunshine smell faded, but never really went away. It was there—he still smelled like Prompto—but as the three days ticked on and on, it became less like walking right into a bakery or a room full of cinnamon candles, and more like he was wearing a light and gentle cologne. Noctis' enhanced senses still picked it up loud and clear, but also noticed that it was lightening. Becoming slightly more manageable. Day by day, wounds healed without scars, and pale skin became paler. His freckles faded, until they were a _very_ slight dusting of off-color skin on his face. Barely noticeable, unless Noctis looked for them specifically. It was a little bit disappointing, given how much Noctis _loved_ them, but he also understood that there was nothing that could be done.

Prompto's skin, which had always been warm and very much alive when Noctis touched it, felt very similar to Noctis' own skin temperature. It was bittersweet. When he came out on the other side of this, Noctis wouldn't struggle with his animal side anymore. That was good. What wasn't good, though, was the fact that in order for that to happen, he'd had to take Prompto's warmth away. He'd had to take the sunshine from Sunshine in order to save him.

If he was in a joking mood, maybe he would have played on that somehow. All he could think of, instead, was the fact that he'd failed to protect Prompto. The fact that _because_ he'd failed Prompto, Prompto was becoming exactly what he'd spent most of his life fearing. And Noctis was forced to _hope_ that he turned into that thing, because the only other option was to lose him forever. For the hundred thousandth time, Noctis walked up beside the bed and traced his fingers down Prompto's cheek. His skin, the same temperature as Noctis' own skin, still felt amazing. Human or not, Prompto was still Prompto. Prompto was still beautiful, even if Noctis couldn't see his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Sunshine," Noctis muttered to his boyfriend's lifeless form. "Sorry I couldn't keep my promise. Sorry that he got you, and sorry that... sorry that it's like this now. When... whenever you wake up, it's not gonna be easy. But I'll be there, alright? Every step of the way to make sure that you have an easier learning period than I did. Because... because it's gonna be hard."

Whether or not Prompto could hear him didn't matter. Or maybe it did. It was easier to say things like this when he was sure Prompto couldn't hear him. It didn't mean that he meant them any less, but Noctis had never really been good with words. Prompto not being able to hear him allowed him to share what was really on his mind, what he was really feeling. A hand smoothed through Prompto's soft blond hair, red starting to blur his eyes for the millionth time since this whole situation had started. It was hard, reminding himself that it was only _partially_ selfish. He hadn't just turned Prompto because existence would be lonely without him; Prompto had _wanted_ him to. That was okay, wasn't it?

With that in mind, he continued. "Maybe it won't be as hard for you, though," he continued. "When I turned, all I had was a little knowledge. After what happened with Ignis, I was so sure that someone should kill me. But I... I promise you this: I will _never_ let you do anything like that." He paused, half-laughing and blinking back some of the red in his eyes. "And unlike the last promise, I won't mess this one up."

A weak smile crossed his face. "But hey, maybe it won't be all bad, right? I mean... now we can really spend eternity together." He huffed a soft laugh, crawling into bed next to Prompto's resting form. That was definitely good. More time together. Noctis would never complain about that. "Which is good. Because I love you. I love you so much that I can't imagine my life... my existence, whatever, without you." After a pause, he looked up at the ceiling. "But before that can happen, I need... I need you to wake up, okay? I can tell the transition is taking. So..." So, he just had to wake up now.

If this was a movie, it would have been the moment that Prompto woke up. It wasn't. He just lay still, not breathing and with unopened eyes. Noctis lay next to him, still talking. He talked to Prompto's unconscious form about many, many things. Plans—about how after they finished the empire off, they could go back to that spot they'd gone to when they first got to Altissia; about how maybe someday they could see the Crown City together—ideas of new things that they could do now that Prompto was a vampire, too... any random thought that entered his mind, really.

Several more hours passed—noon came and went, the sun peaked in the sky and started making its way back down again—before Prompto showed any signs of moving. By that time, Noctis had prepared, hoping that Prompto would awaken soon. He got up, moving the mini-fridge to his side of the bed, ready for him to get into when Prompto started to wake up. The stereo was on; Prompto's favorite album had been playing on repeat for the past few hours, so that he could wake to a sound that he enjoyed. Some of the time had just been spent pacing a path into the floor. The clock next to the bed told him that it was four in the afternoon before a soft, raspy groan filled the room. Noctis was on alert in an instant.

On alert and full of hope. Finally.

He reached into the mini-fridge and pulled out four pouches of blood, two in each hand, and set them on his pillow. He was on his knees on the bed, facing Prompto and easing him from rest with a hand gently combing through his hair. Was it cliché? Maybe. Probably. But Noctis knew that waking up like this was jarring. The hand that wasn't on Prompto's hair was groping blindly for a blood pouch, as he was unwilling to take his eyes from his boyfriend's face.

Prompto's eyes opened, and as jarring as it was to see red where blue usually was, Noctis couldn't help but marvel at the fact that the red was just as piercing as the blue had always been. That particular thought process lasted only a moment, though, because in the next beat, Prompto spoke and his attention span was snapped.

"Noct?" 

The scratchy, raspy voice that came from Prompto's lips was a clear indicator of hunger, and Noctis gathered his mind in an instant, offering out the first of the blood pouches. "H-here," he answered, his voice shuddering in its relief. "This... you'll feel better once you..." Relief wouldn't let him speak clearly.

Prompto accepted the pouch, examining it quietly for a couple of moments. Just like Noctis had the first time he'd drank one. He remembered the odd feeling, the chill; all of the confusion that he'd felt, and the sensory overload. Watching silently as Prompto ran his tongue along his teeth, coming into contact with first one fang, then the other, his eyes widening in surprise. He looked down at his hands, his eyes coming into contact with the light ring. After a slow blink, he turned his gaze up to Noctis, confusion plain as the red in his eyes.

"Go ahead and drink that, Sunshine. Trust me, okay? It... it'll help." Emotion clouded his voice, kept it from sounding as happy as he felt.

Nodding, Prompto lifted the pouch and pierced it with his right fang. Noctis could almost identify the moment that the blood hit his tongue, because he went from tentative to ravenous. He drank the pouch down in a matter of seconds, groaning as the thick liquid worked its way through his body. Without being prompted, Noctis handed him another, and watched as the process repeated itself. In a matter of seconds, the second pouch was gone, then the third, then the fourth, and then Noctis filled his hands again. The mini-fridge emptied in no time.

The pair of them moved out into the living room together, and Prompto tore into the blood in the fridge. Neither of them spoke. Noctis just watched as Prompto tore into pouch after pouch, drinking until he was full. By the time he was done, blood dripped down his chin and to his throat, onto his t-shirt. Pouches littered the apartment, which was still colored with dried blood from Gladio's injury. Ignis had tried to clean, Noctis could tell, but some things still stayed behind.

When Prompto had finally drank his fill, he turned toward Noctis, the red in his eyes turning back to that same blue. He stared for a second, blinking in amazement and then looking down himself. "S-so... how, um... how do I look?" he asked wiping the blood from his chin and his throat with a dishtowel.

Noctis closed the distance between them, reached his arms out, and pulled Prompto to him in a desperately clinging hug. "Perfect," he murmured against the skin on Prompto's shoulder. Noctis slammed his eyes shut against Prompto's shoulder, ignoring the sticky moisture of tears as they leaked out. "You look perfect," he repeated against Prompto's shoulder.

Usually, Prompto's hugs were tight. Before now, his obvious strength difference kept them from being _that_ tight. Now, though, that wasn't an issue. Prompto's newfound strength translating into the hug had Noctis laughing a happy laugh against his boyfriend's shoulder. The skin felt different in temperature, but everything else was absolutely the same. The tenderness, the feeling of love that he felt when they touched was still just as strong. He pulled back from the hug and crashed their lips together, letting go of what used to hold him back—the worry of breaking Prompto's skin or hurting him somehow—kissing him hard and desperately.

Prompto held tightly around Noctis' shoulders, kissing him back just as hard. The kiss broke, and they stared at each other for a moment. A huge grin spread across Prompto's face. "What was that for?" he asked, moving one hand to brush a couple of tears from Noctis' cheek.

"I just... love you. I'm so glad you're okay. I... I know it wasn't forever. It was only a couple days, and I was right there, but..."

The smile on Prompto's face softened, and he smoothed his fingertips along Noctis' cheek. "But with everything that happened before that-" the smile faded- "it's just so good to be in your arms again. I was worried that I'd never see you again. Then that I was going to die, and..."

Noctis shook his head no. "As soon as we learned that you were... that they got you... we took off. Gladio, Ignis, and Nyx caught up with us l-"

At the mention of Gladio's name, Prompto's eyes widened. "Gladio! I saw Gladio when you... when you all got there! The last thing I remembered was Aldercapt shooting him with a silver bullet. How..." As he spoke, he looked around the apartment at the various faded blood spots on the carpets and furniture; at the broken lamp and mirror left behind from what was inevitably a hell of a fight with Ardyn and whoever was with him.

"Gladio's a hybrid now," Noctis point out, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible, but that whole situation was still baffling to him. So much had happened, and they'd had so little time to process any of it. "Which, I know, is really, _really_ crazy. But Specs stayed behind with Nyx while the rest of us went after you guys, and turned Gladio. We were... we were really worried about whether it would take, but it took really, really fast. They caught us before we even got to Gralea."

Prompto blinked in amazement. "What... what about Iris?" he asked.

The whole run home, Iris had hugged Gladio's wolf form by the neck and cried into his fur. She'd been so worried, so bereft about the situation with Prompto, that she hadn't been able to tell the group exactly what had happened. No one had pushed her, of course, as much as Noctis wanted to know. "She's alright, physically. I think she's just worried about you. Sad... and feeling guilty about something, but she hasn't told any of us what happ-"

"I need to see her," Prompto interrupted. "I need to make sure she's okay."

Noctis held squarely to Prompto's hips, not allowing him to run off. "Hold on, Sunshine," he insisted. "You've gotta be careful with Iris, okay? I know that you think you're full, that you're not hungry anymore. And your eyes aren't red. But it's... it's really, really different to drink from a pouch and to sense, to _smell_ blood that's flowing around in a human." He brought one hand up to rest on Prompto's cheek. "I'm not gonna keep you from seeing her. But I'm gonna come with you. And we're... we're gonna be ready, alright? Just in case I need to hold you back." The smile on his face was encouraging.

The responding expression that Prompto gave was nervous, though. "I..." He trailed off, then raked his fang over his lower lip, "do you think I-"

With a finger to Prompto's lips, Noctis cut him off, disallowing him to continue that thought process. Of course, Noctis understood the doubt. Maybe if he'd been a little more cautious, Ignis wouldn't be a vampire right now. Caution was good. Caution would keep him from Noctis' mistakes. But, caution should _not_ have been able to keep him away from his friends. So, with an attempt at a reassuring smile, Noctis nodded.

"I think you'll be okay. And even if you're not, I'm there. So is Gladio, and so is Ignis, and Crowe." Noctis paused. "If you think any of us will let you hurt Iris? Hurt _yourself_ by hurting Iris?"

Prompto laughed a weak laugh. "Right," he nodded.

Later, he'd have to apologize to Prompto for everything. For now, though, if Prompto wanted to see Iris, that was where they'd go. There was a noticeable shift in Prompto's demeanor, though, when they walked out of the apartment. Noctis understood why, of course. All of the humans with flowing blood that lived in the apartment building probably smelled overwhelming. Noctis squeezed tightly to Prompto's hand, trying to keep him calm and relaxed, but the way that he looked around at every slight noise—movement at the other end of the hall, doors opening and closing on lower floors—reminded Noctis of the way he felt when he and Ignis were in Hammerhead right after Noctis had turned.

It seemed like Prompto was struggling, but handling it well enough. He squeezed tighter to Noctis' hand in return, and muttered, "this is what you've dealt with every day?" through gritted teeth, with his head turned toward Noctis.

Huffing a humorless laugh, Noctis nodded his head. "I know it seems impossible right now, but you do get used to it eventually. Long as you always make sure that you have easily accessible meals."

"It's still... everything is so overwhelming. Not just smells, although those are... I can smell _all_ of the different scents in the building and I feel like..." Prompto trailed off, unable to think of a way to finish his sentence.

Noctis nodded. "Like they're an all-you-can-eat buffet set out just for you, right?" he asked, and then smiled sadly when Prompto nodded.

Chuckling humorlessly alongside Noctis when they got to the stairs, Prompto mused, "it's more than just that, though. The touch of your hand feels more intense. Sounds sound louder, I can see better. I can see perfect, even without my contacts, which is good, 'cause I lost those back in Gralea somewhere." All humor drained from his voice when he talked about Gralea.

All of that sounded very familiar to Noctis, and he nodded as they turned down the hall toward Ignis and Gladio's apartment. "Yeah," he acknowledged. "It feels like too much right now, I bet, but I promise, you'll get used to it eventually."

Noctis wasn't really a hundred percent used to it himself, of course. Sometimes things still took him by surprise... like how warm or cold a breeze was, or how much brighter colors seemed, or how he could smell _everything_. Or how good sex felt now. The thought made him turn his eyes toward Prompto, before laughing awkwardly and turning back away.

"What?" Prompto questioned, nudging him in the side with a hip.

 _Caught,_ Noctis thought. He bit his lip nervously. "I was just thinking about how... how much fun certain things will be now. And how much more we can do, now that I won't have to hold back. Now that I'm not worried about hurting you."

A few seconds passed with no reaction from Prompto, during which it seemed like he was struggling to realize exactly what Noctis was talking about. It finally dawned on him, though, and he gasped. "Oh!" his eyes widened, and then he blinked a couple of times. A _huge_ smirk crossed his face, and he glanced at Noctis coyly. "We'll have to find that one out later..."

Later. When everything was said and done, and they'd taken care of the empire problem. Ended Ardyn and made sure that none of those people could hurt anyone else ever again. Or maybe before that. Who knew what would happen from here?

They were stopped in front of Gladio and Ignis' apartment now, and Prompto swallowed an unnecessary swallow, turning to Noctis. "I can already..."

Noctis nodded. He knew what Prompto was going to say, because he could already smell Iris, too. Her scent mixed in with the clean scent of Ignis and Gladio's danger-and-cedar scent, as well as Luna, Nyx, and Crowe's scents, but Iris' scent... the blood... it was the strongest. The scent of blood was always the strongest. To Prompto, who was still learning how to cope with all of this, it must have been almost overwhelming.

"Me too," Noctis reassured him. "It's... it's okay. Just give me a sign if you start to struggle, alright? Squeeze my hand or something."

Prompto nodded, before reaching up and rapping gently on the wooden door. The nerves were palpable to Noctis as they heard soft footsteps on the other side of the door. When it opened, Noctis barely had a chance to register Luna's presence on the other side, before Luna had closed the distance between them and wrapped Prompto up in a relieved hug.

"Prompto," she murmured gently, "I'm so glad to see you."

As soon as the door opened, Prompto visibly tensed, and Noctis could clearly smell why. The scents in the room tripled without the wooden barrier muffling them. Iris' blood was still the strongest, followed closely by the werewolf odor that followed Nyx—and formerly Gladio—around. Gladio's own scent was next, and then everyone else's. He could see the gears in Prompto's mind turning, see the tension in his body as he tried to stop the dizzying scents from confusing his mind too much.

Prompto, though tense, hugged Luna back with the arm not currently holding Noctis' hand. "Me too, Luna," he muttered, his voice strained slightly.

Noctis felt the squeeze on his hand as soon as Prompto's grip tightened, and he glanced at Luna. "Can you do me a favor?" he asked calmly, not waiting for an answer before he continued. "Can you walk into where the others are before us? Make sure Prompto doesn't have a clear shot to get to Iris?" He flashed Prompto an apologetic expression.

At the moment, Prompto seemed too tense to care, and he was nodding at Luna. "Please? I..."

Luna nodded and smiled a nervous smile. "Sure, let's-"

"Prompto!"

Noctis heard the voice before he saw the face, and he realized exactly how much trouble this situation was. Iris appeared around the corner, and before Noctis, or Luna, or even _Prompto_ , could register what was happening, she'd bounded up to Prompto and thrown her arms around him. She cried against his shoulder, hugging him tightly, either not realizing or not caring, exactly how difficult she was making things for Prompto. But Noctis could see. Prompto was squeezing his hand so hard that it probably would have hurt, if Noctis' own hand wasn't just as strong.

Much to _everyone's_ surprise, though, even though Prompto seemed to be struggling a great deal, he merely raised his arm and gave Iris a very, very loose hug. Noctis could only stare in shock as he patted her back gently, while still squeezing all of his tension into Noctis' hand.

"H-hey Iris..." Prompto mumbled, the strain obvious in his tone.

Where Prompto's strength was coming from, how he was able to resist biting Iris, Noctis had _no_ idea. Maybe he was just too shell-shocked to be aware of the situation. Maybe it was the knowledge of the fact that Gladio and Crowe would absolutely destroy him if he did hurt Iris. Or maybe it was his own experiences, his own struggles, strengthening him; some kind of refusal to put another person through what he'd been through.

Whatever it was, though, it showed Noctis one thing: Prompto was the strongest, most amazing person in the whole world.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Lunar Calendar](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9847745) by [nicoleiacross](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nicoleiacross/pseuds/nicoleiacross)




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